Just 12 hours after a video tape of Ravens Ray Rice beating his now wife on February 15, 2014 in a hotel in Atlantic City was published by TMZ, the Ravens had terminated his contract and the NFL had indefinitely suspended him from playing for any NFL team. The video is taken from the surveillance camera that appears to have been mounted inside the elevator in which Rice and his now wife were riding.

The NFL had previously suspended Rice for two regular season games based on the incident, which had been widely publicized. The only new development since the NFL’s decision to suspend him for two games appears to be the existence of video. The NFL claims it did not have the video in its possession at the time it made the decision to suspend him for two days, but some commentators are questioning how that could be.

Implications for Employers

Given the rapid rate of growth of video monitoring of activities in public areas, businesses and commercial buildings, employers faced with the need to conduct an impartial, prompt and thorough internal investigation into an allegations of harassment or other workplace misconduct need to always consider the possibility of a relevant video tape existing somewhere. According to a recent report from Transparency Market Research, the video surveillance market is expected to reach $42.81 billion by 2019.

And, that’s not even counting the number of people walking around with video cameras on their cell phones.

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Workplace Investigation Group trains in-house counsel, risk managers, and human resources professionals on all aspects of workplace investigations into alleged bullying, discrimination, harassment and retaliation.  Click here for information on upcoming training that is available in the coming months in Atlanta, GA, Washington, D.C., Metro-New York City, Hartford, CT, Scottsdale, AZ, Las Vegas, NV, Denver, CO, Cincinnati, OH, and Chicago, IL.