Zero Tolerance Needed on Lawsuits
It�s been a week of interesting lawsuits filed due to � according to the people filing the suits� wrongful firings.
We have an African-American woman employed by the IRS who was terminated for going through 400 of her closest friends� and families� tax returns. She�s filing based upon race discrimination.
Then we have the African-American male, employed as an emergency squad technician who, while en route to the hospital with a patient, stopped off for doughnuts before reaching the health care facility. He, too, is filing based upon race discrimination.
And then there�s Bobby Knight.
Mr. Knight has filed a lawsuit against Indiana University seeking $7 million in damages, including �lost income, mental humiliation and interference with his prospects for employment.� This figure includes an estimated $3 million in lost wages for the six months Knight was out of work between his coaching job at I.U. and his new coaching position at Texas Tech. He did, however, accept $50,000 between jobs to post his NCAA picks online with an Internet company. The idea was to allow fans to see if they could pick better than he had.
Let�s do a quick look back as to why Knight was fired in the first place. A point to note, was he was given the opportunity to resign, but refused. A resignation looks a
lot better on your resume. But then it prohibits you from suing at a later date for lost wages, even though it certainly would be considered less �humiliating.�
This is a guy who behaved as badly as any two-year-old I�ve ever witnessed. He threw things. He kicked things. He fired a blank from a starter�s pistol at a sportswriter. He bullied referees, players, cheerleaders and fans. All of these behavioral examples would have gotten any child in the world a spot in �time-out� rehabilitation.
Then there�s the idea of zero tolerance.
The basis for Knight�s claim of �wrongful dismissal� is, he says, because no one at Indiana University ever defined �zero tolerance� for him.
Unbelievable!
Zero tolerance in the workplace became a popular � and long overdue � term in the mid-90s in reference to sexual harassment.
Once a corporation defined its work environment as one of zero tolerance pertaining to anything that could be perceived as harassment by any employee, it became every manager�s job to take all complaints seriously. An investigation of the alleged situation would be done and appropriate consequences meted out, up to and including dismissal.
The dictionary defines zero tolerance as �non-acceptance of anti-social behavior, typically by strict and uncompromising application of the law.�
It seems to me all that Bobby needed to do was pick up a dictionary.
Or possibly live by the oldest rule in existence:
Do unto others as you would have them do to you.
Somehow I doubt if Mr. Knight would have tolerated the Indiana University president throwing a chair at him, firing a blank at him or in any way demeaning him in front of his colleagues or team members.
Sounds like a real good example of �zero tolerance� from his perspective.
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