The "bullying" or "hazing" situation going on with the Miami Dolphins is an interesting case. For those who are not familiar, the Dolphins had an offensive lineman walk off of the team, accusing his team mate of excessive and racial bullying and hazing.
We all know bullying is an issue in our schools, but who would have thought that a professional football player, who is over 300lbs, would be bullied?
The Dolphins have since suspended the player deemed resposible for an indefinate term and is is widely speculated that he will be released by the team. The odd thing seems to be that the team is rallying more around the suspended player instead of around the player who claims he was bullied. So that leaves a lot of unanswered questions as to what really went on with the team.
Regardless of what actually happened, could the Dolphins, as the employer, be accused of creating a hostile work environment for their employees, the players?
The couls be made that they could. There are stories floating around that the coaches urged the suspended player to "toughen up" the other lineman. If that is in fact the case, then the Dolphins could find themselves in the middle of an Employment Practices Liability lawsuit.
If they are accused of doing this, whether or not they lose the case, they could be looking at hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars of legal defense costs because of the high profile nature.
Would their General Liability Insurance (GL) cover this? The answer is no. In order to have coverage, they would have to have an Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) policy. This covers things such as creating a hostile work environment, harassment, discrimination, etc. This policy would cover the defense costs (subject to deductible) and damages awarded from the case (except for punitive damages).
Whether or not they are found to have done anything wrong as an organization remains to be seen. But the mere accusation can cause great damage.
So if you are a business owner, you not only have to protect yourself against actual damages, like fire, theft, etc, but you also have to think about protecting yourself against these types of accusations should they arise.
