This is very similar to the Slava Voynov case, which I already discussed
here, but will re-embed the relevant part of the quote:
denominator wrote:On a different note, I'm curious what other hockey fans' thoughts are on the Slava Voynov suspension. Regardless of what actually happened and whether or not Voynov abused his girlfriend, I have two major issues with the NHL's immediate suspension:
1) It goes against the central tenet of our justice system, that a person is considered innocent until proven guilty. Voynov has already been punished by the league before anything has been proven as to whether or not a crime was committed.
2) The league should have no right to prosecute a player for off-ice incidents. Players are, in essence, employees of the NHL and an employer should have no right to say what an employee can or cannot do when they are not working and not on work property.
Obviously, the Voynov suspension is a direct result of the Ray Rice debacle. But suspending Voynov with pay effectively does nothing, and punishes the Kings organization more than it punishes the player. Voynov's contract still counts against the cap but they cannot use him, so they are effectively down a player and out $4million for something that Voynov is only alleged to have done.
I have the
EXACT SAME issues with the Ghomeshi dismissal. I'm already using the term "innocent until proven guilty unless it's domestic abuse" because we, as a culture, seem to have decided that domestic abuse requires no evidence nor a trial to decide whether or not to prosecute a suspect. Regardless of the second issue (see below), nobody has the right to prosecute Ghomeshi on alleged charges, ever. For anything.
As for whether or not the CBC can fire Ghomeshi over this, that depends on his contract. From what I understand, many public personalities such as radio hosts have a morality clause buried in their contract, that basically is a broad brush allowing the employer to fire the employee for anything they deem "unbecoming behaviour". This is because, like Voynov for the Kings organization, Ray Rice for the Ravens, and both for the NHL and NFL respectively, Ghomeshi is representing the CBC at all times. This is a much grey-er area than the above guilty until proven innocent conundrum, but still bothers me. I feel that regardless of the occupation, whether the employee is a public figure or not, the employer should not have the right to punish or prosecute an employee for activities that occur outside of work hours and off work property. Obviously, not all share this view and this is not the way contracts are written, but it still bothers me that the CBC can now control Jian's sex life.
Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2014 7:36 am
