The mother of Dolphins lineman Jonathan Martin is reportedly a lawyer who has spent nearly two decades practicing employment law and has written numerous articles about “workplace discrimination and harassment.”
Though she is currently a general counsel for Toyota, Martin’s mother, Jane Howard-Martin, used to practice and write about employment law:
Interestingly, Martin’s mother, Jane Howard-Martin, spent almost 20 years practicing employment law and wrote numerous articles in legal journals on such issues as workplace discrimination and harassment. It’s not known whether she has any role in her son’s decisions; Howard-Martin is now assistant general counsel for Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. in Los Angeles.
Two labor-employment lawyers at Venable LLP in New York, Michael Volpe and Nicholas Reiter, said in a written analysis of the Martin matter that employers can face lawsuits related to bullying if the harassment involved a victim’s race, religion, sexual orientation or disability. Claims can be made for harassment, infliction of emotional distress and negligent supervision.
In 2002, she wrote an article titled “Stop workplace harassment in your company,” in which she argued that harassment policies needed to be enforced:
A policy against harassment is not valuable unless employees believe it will be enforced. The company must use discipline when appropriate to ensure that harassment is not part of the work environment. The company should monitor the volume and types of issues that arise to determine whether there are recurring issues that need to be more specifically addressed.
It is not known to what extent Martin’s mother may be involved in helping her son with legal issues or whether Martin will ever press charges. Martin, under Florida employment law, may have various ways in which he can sue the Dolphins or even Incognito, according to legal analysts.