The following statement is from DeMaurice Smith the NFLPA Executive Director in response to the incident that Cowboy WR Dez Bryant was involved in. "We need to make sure the men of this league are treated as businessmen. During interviews, our players and prospective players should never be subjected to discrimination or degradation stemming from the biases or misconceptions held by team personnel. NFL teams cannot have the free reign to ask questions during the interview process which can be categorized as stereotyping or which may bring a personal insult to any player as a man. For the past year, active, former and incoming players have heard me speak about the expectations we have of them as members of this union, their teams, communities and families. It is equally true that the same kind of respect is demanded of their employers." DeMaurice Smith and the NFL Players Source: NFLPlayers Association
i agree what would happen if ceo asked this of jr executive trying to get a job there always saying the NFL is business
The phraseology of the question may not have been appropriate but if you are going to invest 20 or 30 million dollars on an individual there should be nothing that is off limits. These teams know so much more about these players than we do and they need to know if their investment in the individual is a wise one.
20 - 30 million dollar investments are always investigated as they should be. The dolphins knew his mother did 18 months for drug trafficking. They knew the answer to the question before Ireland asked it. There wasn't investigative reasoning behind that question, there was solely intent to provoke reaction and to grade the players reaction. There are a thousand better ways to do that. I propose my challenge to anyone willing to test this, ask your HR representative at your job about asking if a future candidate if his/her mother was a tramp. Even a 30k - 40k investment (benefits not included) matters to a company that has a 5-7 figure revenue stream in the same way a a 9-10 figure business sees a 7-8 figure investment. Tell me what the reaction/conversation (if you're lucky) is at your job. There are codes of conduct and policies in place for a reason. Ireland is a freaking idiot.
Yes, he is an idiot and he should be reprimanded for such a ridiculous question, any employee at any other company in the US would have sued and won.
Honestly, I don't think there is any Human Resource dept. in any large corporation that would allow or condone a question like that to be asked and if it was asked that person would be terminated. What does this question have to do with his employment with a team. In the "real" world it is considered age discrimination if you ask a person their age but you can ask if their mother is a prostitute, that makes no sense at all. It shouldn't matter if you're making millions or thousands or hundreds, the question was out of line and he knew it.
^^This Any company I've seen, and all HR departments I've dealt with (only a couple thankfully) would be consulting their legal department about a possible lawsuit if their employee asked someone this question. Policies governing age, s*x, creed, and harrassment are explicitly laid out in all offices due to federal requirements. The Dolphins are a company who still fall under federal work place laws. The NFL isn't above any other company in the US.
