OT: Urban Meyer put on paid leave by Ohio State.

[jah]

If you got accused of beating your wife with fairly credible evidence and your boss found out, you'd be fired. Urban Meyer was the boss and chose to cover it up instead. How are people seriously not getting this?

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

If you got accused of beating your wife with fairly credible evidence and your boss found out, you'd be fired. Urban Meyer was the boss and chose to cover it up instead. How are people seriously not getting this?

Everyone is dismissing all the fair labor laws that must be adhered to. Now you want to make employers liable to act on hearsay information that someone told their spouse?

I'm not defending the guy or his actions, anyone who hits a woman is a coward and should be prosecuted. But its easy to say, after all the facts are known what he "should have" done, but from a legal standpoint, I think it is wrong to try and hang this on Meyer.

 

[borg]

At some point grown adults need to take a little responsibility for their actions, and lots of other people are to blame before we get anywhere near the Meyer family.

Exactly!
Just curious...
Is it a boss's responsibility to report marital infidelity of his/her employees?

 

[Kontradiction]

Everyone is dismissing all the fair labor laws that must be adhered to. Now you want to make employers liable to act on hearsay information that someone told their spouse?

I'm not defending the guy or his actions, anyone who hits a woman is a coward and should be prosecuted. But its easy to say, after all the facts are known what he "should have" done, but from a legal standpoint, I think it is wrong to try and hang this on Meyer.

And that's the reason why he should keep his job. However, universities have a habit of pandering to the constantly offended in newsworthy scandals such as these. We'll see what happens. The bigger question is will the cry rooms on campus be used more if Meyer gets to keep his job or if he is fired?

 

[Crazy Patriot Guy]

I made my post somewhat in jest but apparently it wasn't taken as such. Given that, I'm happy to match your sincere tone.

The entire first paragraph is irrelevant. You seem to be assuming I'm a Michigan fan which is hardly the truth. My dad is an alumni so I grew up watching games but I have little attachment to Michigan myself. This Meyer situation has absolutely nothing to do with football so I don't understand why you'd bring up anything football-related in this discussion.

This is about an individual who was aware that a member of his coaching staff had abused his wife in 2009, and then subsequently became aware of additional alleged abuse that occurred in 2015, did nothing to address the matter and publicly lied about his knowledge. Calling this a "marital wrestling match" is beyond disingenuous, and if you think a husband physically abusing his wife on multiple occasions is a normal occurrence in marriage, I'd say that your moral compass needs some tuning.

No one asked Meyer to interfere in their marriage, nor did anyone ask Meyer to act as a "court of law". Rather, they expected him to take domestic abuse allegations seriously (knowing that there were previous incidents between this couple). Meyer seemingly did not. And all that aside, Meyer lied about his knowledge of the events. Is it unreasonable to expect Meyer to not outright lie? Could he not have said, "I was aware of the 2015 allegations and allowed law enforcement to handle that situation in a way they saw fit, but I and the University did not feel the need to intervene"?

If you, or I, or anyone is aware of someone being abused (or allegedly abused), publicly or private, we have a moral and ethical responsibility to address the matter. Meyer did not. Regardless of whether Meyer was genuinely concerned about Smith's wife and was unsure of the truth value of the allegations, Meyer (and his wife, given that she's an OSU employee) had a responsibility both ethically and legally (via Title IX) to report those allegations. Given that Meyer was aware of the previous abuse that Smith had committed in 2009, Meyer should have been on top of the 2015 situation immediately, and unfortunately he was not.

That's why Meyer is being (rightfully) vilified.

I don't disagree with anything you said. Ohio State will probably have to fire him because of this.

The problem I have is what mob justice has become. There is no doubt that there are people out there that think Urban Meyer is the scum of the Earth, yet if asked, couldn't name the coach that was actually beating his wife. Too often people simply see the recognizable name, throw all their anger at that person, and all but forget about the guy that commits the crime.

 

[Crazy Patriot Guy]

Lets go out and win one for Urban.

I don't know where I'll be then, Rock. But I'll know about it and I won't tell anyone.

 

[TB_Helmet]

Exactly!
Just curious...
Is it a boss's responsibility to report marital infidelity of his/her employees?

However, universities have a habit of pandering to the constantly offended in newsworthy scandals such as these. We'll see what happens. The bigger question is will the cry rooms on campus be used more if Meyer gets to keep his job or if he is fired?

Everyone is dismissing all the fair labor laws that must be adhered to. Now you want to make employers liable to act on hearsay information that someone told their spouse?

If I’m correctly reading the long tweet that Icy posted in page 1, it looks like Urban had a legal obligation to report his knowledge of the abuse given he works for a university that gets federal funding. Not doing so puts his employer at serious risk, which is the primary reason his job is in jeopardy. Probably different if he works at a bank or something.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

I hope Bill doesn’t bring him on staff here...

 

[GoBlue]

The part that makes it worse from what i'm reading is he knew about it occurring multiple times. The coaches wife had numerous conversations with Meyers wife and all the other coaches. He was also told. And one could assume his wife mentioned it a time or two since she was in the loop.
And the worse part i guess is that Meyer makes a big deal out of treating women with respect and even has signs around the football complex regarding it..
Then he ignores it and according to some trying to cover it up. Probably because the coach is the grandson of a former Buckeye coach and a good friend of urbies.

 

[borg]

Help me out with some facts....
During the period when the spouse was engaged in "conversations" with, what seems like every person she knew, did she report her situation to the police or any other type of legal authority? Did she ever?

 

[Kontradiction]

Help me out with some facts....
During the period when the spouse was engaged in "conversations" with, what seems like every person she knew, did she report her situation to the police or any other type of legal authority? Did she ever?

She did...

Records show history of domestic incidents between former Ohio State receivers coach Zach Smith and ex-wife

 

[captain stone]

I hope Bill doesn’t bring him on staff here...

Won't happen, but this does show once more that Bill has lousy taste in friends: Meyer, Saban, Bobby Knight, Tony LaRussa...

 

[borg]

She did...

Records show history of domestic incidents between former Ohio State receivers coach Zach Smith and ex-wife

No charges ever filed
Not trying to be compassionless....but.....with no charges ever filed against this guy, I'm very confused why it is the head coach's job to be an arbitrator of domestic relationships. Without any legal action taking place and only "she said" indirect whispers....seriously?
File charges: different story

I'm also confused why this women was so "afraid" to file charges but not afraid to rat her hubby out to his boss. The first word that came to mind was: Vindictive
Expecting the boss to make all better doesn't register with me.

The "black SUV is following me" paranoia is certainly enlightening.
Shifting blame to others during a traffic stop is telling
Stating "My family told me not to go to the police" is a lame attempt to absolve herself from personal responsibility...IMO

Will the other coaches be fired for their knowledge?
Should the wives in the know pay a price?
Did this coach fulfill his job duties satisfactorily

Prediction: Urban walks away with a full payout and job offers galore
Meyer's lawyer defense: Prove it

 

[Kontradiction]

No charges ever filed
Not trying to be compassionless....but.....with no charges ever filed against this guy, I'm very confused why it is the head coach's job to be an arbitrator of domestic relationships. Without any legal action taking place and only "she said" indirect whispers....seriously?
File charges: different story

I'm also confused why this women was so "afraid" to file charges but not afraid to rat her hubby out to his boss. The first word that came to mind was: Vindictive
Expecting the boss to make all better doesn't register with me.

The "black SUV is following me" paranoia is certainly enlightening.
Shifting blame to others during a traffic stop is telling
Stating "My family told me not to go to the police" is a lame attempt to absolve herself from personal responsibility...IMO

Will the other coaches be fired for their knowledge?
Should the wives in the know pay a price?
Did this coach fulfill his job duties satisfactorily

Prediction: Urban walks away with a full payout and job offers galore
Meyer's lawyer defense: Prove it

I think Meyer could end up taking the fall for this but the bigger issue would be why the university as a whole swept it under the rug. I'm sure those people will still be able to maintain their posts, though.

 

[XLIX]

Employers are in a no-win situation. Take away the football aspect and just look at this like a regular job. Smith assaulted his wife but at the time she didn't want to leave him and they went to counseling. No charges were filed so legally, Smith has a clean record.

At this point, what is the employer supposed to do? Firing him could potentially make the situation worse - not to mention that if it turns out she's full of crap (and sorry, but we've seen a couple cases lately where the woman was full of crap) then the employer can be sued for wrongful termination. But then if you don't fire him, you have a potential PR nightmare.

The perpetually-offended industrial complex is going to come after you no matter what you do.

 

[Deus Irae]

I think Meyer could end up taking the fall for this but the bigger issue would be why the university as a whole swept it under the rug. I'm sure those people will still be able to maintain their posts, though.

The bigger issue is the despicable nature of a requirement that people rat out other people.

 

[captain stone]

The bigger issue is the despicable nature of a requirement that people rat out other people.

"If you see something, say something...unless it's a (fill in the blank)."

 

[scout]

The bigger issue is the despicable nature of a requirement that people rat out other people.

You mean look the other way?

 

[Deus Irae]

You mean look the other way?

No, I mean requiring people to rat out their friends/neighbors/co-workers/etc... That's despicable.

 

[catent]

Exactly!
Just curious...
Is it a boss's responsibility to report marital infidelity of his/her employees?

Marital infidelity doesn't cause direct physical harm in the way that physical abuse does. Massive distinction.