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WWE Wrestler Fired for Slapping Fellow Employee - Reminder to Employers to Be Vigilant of What's Going on in the Workplace


Depending upon the nature of the job, some workplaces are known for having a more laid back atmosphere where joking, horsing around, and off color comments or gestures are deemed acceptable.  For those of you who have ever watched wrestling, you have likely seen and heard things that would not be tolerated in an every day office.  (I mean, where else is it "acceptable" to body slam your co-workers on a daily basis or push around and threaten to abuse referees and other authority figures??)

Recently, a WWE wrestler, Alberto Del Rio, was fired from the company after he allegedly slapped a WWE employee backstage.  Details are apparently still sketchy but apparently when the employee, a WWE web producer, was finished eating, he was instructed to clean his food tray.  The employee allegedly said that it was "Del Rio's job."  You can guess what happened next...word got back to Del Rio about what happened, Del Rio approached the employee and ended up slapping him for the remark.  The WWE subsequently fired Del Rio as a result of this accident.  Details are still emerging, but it has been suggested there might have been a pattern of discrimination as to Del Rio and other Hispanic wrestlers in the WWE and this event was the issue boiling over.

This situation is a good reminder to employers to monitor and be aware of potential conflicts at the workplace.  If it is true that there had been a pattern of discrimination as to Del Rio and other Hispanic wrestlers, that could be a problem for the WWE should Del Rio sue over his termination, especially if complaints had been made previously as to discriminatory conduct and the WWE was aware of the problem yet failed to act.  The fact that the issue got to the point of a physical altercation which could have been prevented is troubling as there should have been procedures in place for this matter to be dealt with before it got physical.  


Special thanks to Marissa Payne of the Washington Post for additional information on the topic:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2014/08/09/wwe-fires-superstar-alberto-del-rio-for-reportedly-slapping-employee-who-allegedly-told-a-racist-joke/

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