With the FA now committed to investigating the allegations of racist abuse levelled against Chelsea and England Captain John Terry, where does this leave Terry and his employer, Chelsea FC?Much
With the FA now committed to investigating the allegations of racist abuse levelled against Chelsea and England Captain John Terry, where does this leave Terry and his employer, Chelsea FC?
Much depends, of course, on the outcome of both the FA investigation and the police investigation that has arisen due to a member of the public making a similar complaint. If either conclude that there is a case to answer, or even uphold the claim that Terry made such comments in the manner alleged, then Chelsea will have a senior employee with a serious charge against him. It will be expected, no doubt, to take appropriate disciplinary action against him.
At the moment this is all hypothetical, of course, but in any other working environment, an employer that finds itself with an employee who has been found to have made racially abusive comments towards another person, will usually be expected to apply the ultimate disciplinary sanction - summary dismissal for gross misconduct. But this is football, and as we have seen with the recent Tevez affair, serious misconduct on the part of multi-million pounds assets (i.e. players) is dealt with in a unique way by employers.
My commentary on the employment law issues can be found in The Guardian.
Much depends, of course, on the outcome of both the FA investigation and the police investigation that has arisen due to a member of the public making a similar complaint. If either conclude that there is a case to answer, or even uphold the claim that Terry made such comments in the manner alleged, then Chelsea will have a senior employee with a serious charge against him. It will be expected, no doubt, to take appropriate disciplinary action against him.
At the moment this is all hypothetical, of course, but in any other working environment, an employer that finds itself with an employee who has been found to have made racially abusive comments towards another person, will usually be expected to apply the ultimate disciplinary sanction - summary dismissal for gross misconduct. But this is football, and as we have seen with the recent Tevez affair, serious misconduct on the part of multi-million pounds assets (i.e. players) is dealt with in a unique way by employers.
My commentary on the employment law issues can be found in The Guardian.