Plenty of people think that it’s fine for a company to slam a door in the face of a current or former employee who has had the audacity to file a lawsuit against it. It’s not fine. It’s a violation of the rights of the person who filed the claim and then was shunned.
It’s a point that soon will play out for the NFL and the landmark litigation filed against it by former Dolphins coach Brian Flores. In addition to the pending claims against the league, the Dolphins, the Broncos, and the Giants, a source with knowledge of the situation tells PFT that the case will be amended to state a retaliation claim against the Texans for failing to hire Flores.
Obviously, the Texans will never admit that they passed over Flores for an illegal reason. Rarely if ever does an employer confess to improper motivations for employment decisions. Proof of retaliatory intent would come from other less obvious forms evidence.
Flores was one of the three finalists for the job. Then, the job went to Lovie Smith. Common sense suggests that the Texans realized they couldn’t hire unproven and inexperienced Josh McCown, and they wouldn’t hire Flores. Smith became the compromise candidate, arguably thrown into the mix late to allow the Texans to avoid hiring Flores.
Cases like this are proven through a careful review of documents, such as emails and text messages. Also, key witnesses will be grilled aggressively during depositions in an effort to test their stories, and ideally (from Flores’s perspective) to blow holes in them.
Regardless of how it plays out, it’s coming.