[oman]

I am not a professional hockey player or professional nfl player.  But I will guarantee you if you ask Roger Goodell what a NFL GM should do if a player approaches him complaining of bullying and harassment, the answer is not to tell the player to punch the bully.

Oh, seriously, because I was clearly advocating that this should be SOP.  I was clearly advocating a requirement of punching before someone could bring a harassment suit.

  Step back and think, really think, about how absurd that is.  You experience workplace harassment and bullying, you report it to your superior and they tell you to toughen up and punch the bully.

I was focusing on the absolute absurdity of you comparing the working environment of NFL players with your own working environment. 

There are so many things wrong with that and I don't care if it is an NFL team or Wal-Mart.

Well, you should because legally (both civilly and criminally) it's going to have a big effect on any case.  If the response had been "Incognito is going to keep this up until you beat his ass on the field.  The next time you are out there, destroy him and he will stop."

Assuming there were no prior complaints, the above would not be surprising in a competitive, physical sport environment.  Would it be bad advice?  Yeah.  But this would not be remotely defensible in a WalMart scenario.  If the GM had one or two people who could testify that pushing back or punching Incognito forced him to back down. 

That response condones the bullying behavior.  It puts the onus on the victim to fix the situation.

There is almost always an onus on the victim to fix the situation.  The onus if for the victim to show that it is unwanted.  The onus in certain situations might well be for the victim to complain or protest or ask the harasser to stop.  These were fellow players and the standard on harassment is different if it would have been harassment by a coach or manager.  (This ignores whatever union contract provisions might apply. 

I am truly lost at what point you are trying to make here.

It's easy.  Your comparison of your work environment to the work environment of an NFL team is silly.

Really step back and think about what you are saying here.  You are trying to rationalize behavior that is unsupportable.

I'm not remotely rationalizing the behavior.  I am saying that all behavior has to be viewed in its context. 

[oman]

I am not a professional hockey player or professional nfl player.  But I will guarantee you if you ask Roger Goodell what a NFL GM should do if a player approaches him complaining of bullying and harassment, the answer is not to tell the player to punch the bully.

Oh, seriously, because I was clearly advocating that this should be SOP.  I was clearly advocating a requirement of punching before someone could bring a harassment suit.

  Step back and think, really think, about how absurd that is.  You experience workplace harassment and bullying, you report it to your superior and they tell you to toughen up and punch the bully.

I was focusing on the absolute absurdity of you comparing the working environment of NFL players with your own working environment. 

There are so many things wrong with that and I don't care if it is an NFL team or Wal-Mart.

Well, you should because legally (both civilly and criminally) it's going to have a big effect on any case.  If the response had been "Incognito is going to keep this up until you beat his ass on the field.  The next time you are out there, destroy him and he will stop."

Assuming there were no prior complaints, the above would not be surprising in a competitive, physical sport environment.  Would it be bad advice?  Yeah.  But this would not be remotely defensible in a WalMart scenario.  If the GM had one or two people who could testify that pushing back or punching Incognito forced him to back down. 

That response condones the bullying behavior.  It puts the onus on the victim to fix the situation.

There is almost always an onus on the victim to fix the situation.  The onus if for the victim to show that it is unwanted.  The onus in certain situations might well be for the victim to complain or protest or ask the harasser to stop.  These were fellow players and the standard on harassment is different if it would have been harassment by a coach or manager.  (This ignores whatever union contract provisions might apply. 

I am truly lost at what point you are trying to make here.

It's easy.  Your comparison of your work environment to the work environment of an NFL team is silly.

Really step back and think about what you are saying here.  You are trying to rationalize behavior that is unsupportable.

I'm not remotely rationalizing the behavior.  I am saying that all behavior has to be viewed in its context.