Deadspin: Dolphins Fire a Scout Who Worked From Home to Care for his Wife

That's a really thin veneer of plausible deniability you're clinging to.

 

A few observations:

1. The Dolphins are not obligated to employ Sullivan in perpetuity simply because his wife is very ill. Nor do they need "cause" to terminate him -- they could fire him simply because Hickey or someone else doesn't like him personally or doesn't like his work-at-home arrangement.

2. The fact that prior GMs or supervisors were either good with the work-at-home arrangement or simply tolerated it does not mean the Dolphins have to continue that forever. Employers can and do change employment policies all the time.

3. There's actually some inconsistency in the allegations about reducing the CF benefits and the termination and whether they are related. With the reduction in the CF benefits, it would seem to largely eliminate the incentive to fire him because of his wife's CF.

4. The question isn't really whether Sullivan can or did perform his duties admirably from home -- it is whether the team perceived him to have done that. He may have done a very solid job objectively speaking, but if the Dolphins truly believe otherwise, or if the new GM/supervisor simply doesn't like that arrangement (having nothing to do with his wife's condition), they can fire him.

5. In my opinion, lumping in the allegations re: Martin/Incognito/Jones undercuts the sincerity and credibility of the claims. It may have just been the lawyer's stratgey decision, but I think it was a poor one.

All that said, from a personal/human standpoint I am sympathetic to Sullivan and do agree that the whole thing looks bad.

 

How do you know Hickey was on the staff when the new health care plan took effect?

Edit: I found it.

 

and that's all speculation. I doubt that a specific point in the companies health care was pulled out and used to target 1 scout that worked from home when all that is required is for the company to no longer need his services. this is just as bad as the letter of intent trying to publicly force the team to take him back to avoid looking bad. this becomes an issue that has nothing to do directly with the scouts performance and becomes blackmail by tugging at the public's heart strings.

we have no idea if this was about his performance, the arrangement, if the arrangement was attempted to be changed and/or a settlement or severance package was offered.. anybody with an agenda against the owner and the current regime can come up with this kind of speculation. let this thing play out.

 

Actually its a really big stretch of the imagination to try and tie the two things together. If you are going to believe the allegation you have to believe the Hickey decided he didn't like the arrangement but rather than simply firing the scout he marched down to the HR department and asked them to stop coverage of the medicine. Then you have to believe that the people in HR, whose job it is not only to manage benefits for the employees but also monitor hiring and firing policies to keep the company out of legal problems, decided this made sense and went along with it. Then after that didn't work they realized the solution to their problem was to fire him after all. Tell me how plausible that sounds.

 

Nfl scout isnt either

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If the accommodation was the issue you would think the offered to let him continue in his current capacity, but have him come into an office. Maybe it was felt that job performance was an issue.

 

Why would someone try to force you out by changing the benefits and still fire you? The whole point it's to get you to quit.

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Don't need a reason to fire anybody in a right to work state!

 

Are the Dolphins self-insured or do they compare plans like other companies?

You would think a cartel like the NFL would have the same plans available for all teams.

 

You're taking a very simplistic view of what was said here.

 

Also, just from personal experience, never underestimate a person's ability to legitimately **** you over in a company - never. It happens all the time.

Not that it happened here, I'm just saying that it does in fact happen. I've been in upper management and have seen some stellar characters in those circles.

 

Haven't gone through whole thread. The Dolphins as an employer have to follow the same rules every other company does. The big thing here in court will be "Reasonable Accommodation". I'm no lawyer, and this usually applies to employees who themselves have a disability, but it probably applies here as well. If Hickey fired him because of this, and not for incompetence the Dolphins have a mess on their hands. Poor leadership trickling down from the top.

 

The big thing here is whether or not the Dolphins changed their health care plan to meet the Affordable Care Act parameters or went completely rogue to shun one guy. For what it's worth, he wasn't the only scout fired.

 

Why is that a big thing? Whatever reason they got a new plan is their business. If the scout is unhappy with the plan he can enter into the exchange. Was that not the point of ACA?

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Yes it was.

 

Hasn't our drafting been horrible during the last 3 GMs? It sucks about his wife, but maybe he wasn't getting the job done the way Hickey wanted it done.

 

As I said, if you believe the story(that Hickey told him the accomodation, was not something he was good with).

 

If this case it is, the wife qualifies him under the ADA.

 

I'm pretty sure that the ACA some of you are blaming this on will actually protect this man and his family and are not the cause of his firing. But I don't know all the facts so I wont make national policy judgements based on what I don't know about anything. Guess I'm just lazy.

 

Why change the plan to "single one guy out" and then fire that same guy a month later, seems like an oxymoron.

 

That is a lot different than being fired.

 

hmmm look at the **** storm created by just changing one little piece of that information.

 

There is so much pent-up existential angst of people calling themselves fans of the Miami Dolphins. This epitomizes the post traumatic stress disorder of decades following this team. If anything is reported that challenges the authority/structure/employees of this team it is gladly gobbled up and regurgitated by a throng of ne'erdowells, relishing the fantasy that the Dolphin's struggles give justification to their own inadequacies. And how inadequate they are...

There is is a proverb that states that an argument at first seems reasonable, until it is then challenged.

 

Hickey said that he wants his scouts "in-house" or at the facility on a routine basis judging from that article. Looks like the inhaler price went up AFTER Sullivan was notified his contract would not be renewed. The Dolphins will look bad either way, and it sucks for Sullivan and I sympathize with him, but this is nowhere near as nefarious as it seemed at the outset.

 

Well then....that changes a lot.

 

Ya think.

 

Not to people with an agenda. It changes nothing.
The narrative is only written in innuendo and speculation, not facts.
I wonder if LB is going to change his initial tune. Doubtful.

 

Are contracts typically renewed?

 

I doubt his tune would change if we won the superbowl. He'd still be cynical.

 

At the employers discretion and providing there's a mutual agreement in place.

 

Not only that, but any GM we hired was going to review our scouting dept and was apt to make changes of some sort.

As much as Dol-Fans have complained about our scouts and often said the entire lot needed to be fired, the moment we don't renew one's contract all Hell break's loose.

 

Dolphins are so awesome at doing the wrong thing and looking like horrible human beings to the entire world.

Hickey could be 1000% right and it does not matter. someone with common sense in the organization needs to step in and say "let this one go for a few seasons its not a budget issue, place his salary into the PR budget and avoid any negative press"

man its not rocket science. Ross is a doofus. Dolphins desperately need intelligence (not football related) at the executive level.

 

Look to the shehacks for an example. During a physical found out one of this yrs rookies has a heart condition. Never going to play football again. Guaranteed his contract and put him on IR for the season. Didn't have to. Just taking care of people.

 

Do you expect the Seahawks to keep him on the roster for a decade-plus?

 

Does that player now have the right to sue the Seahawks when his contract expires?

 

I guarantee we had the scout under contract longer than the Seahawks intend to keep that player under contract.

 

Yea, this is how I feel. This guy's wife isn't just sick, she's basically dying. Cystic fibrosis is a terminal illness and she most likely doesn't have much time left which explains why the scout would want to be home so much. Give the man a new contract for a year or two at least so he can keep his medical. He's not exactly in a position to pack up his things and go find a job in another city. Some messege this sends to the staff.

 

The scout has had TEN YEARS to find a new job close to his home. He hasn't. One has to ask why.