The Detroit Tigers are in hot water over a recent controversy stemming from a Tigers employee who raised concerns about a superior, interim VP Matt Coy, and was essentially let go simply for raising a concern. This is not a good look for the organization at all.
Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic details the story in full in a recent piece, but essentially the employee spoke out about Coy, who they felt was creating a toxic work environment. The Tigers interpreted the complaint as a letter of resignation and the employee's time with the Tigers was over after 18 years.
It's just a really bizarre way to operate especially since the Tigers' broadcast partner Ilitch Sports and Entertainment (IS+E) publicly praised those who came forward with allegations of misconduct towards women made against a number high-ranking VP's in the organization or with its broadcast partner IS+E.
Tigers erroneously fire employee for raising valid concerns
The employee was not the only one to air grievances about Coy as others also had concerns about his conduct and the workplace culture he had created but they felt that their concerns were ignored as well.
The Tigers have to really take a long look at their internal processes both with their organization and with IS+E and any other related entities because this is now becoming an image issue in addition to the fact that it is just plain wrong.
Coy reportedly was replacing one of the eight VP's ousted after allegations came forward about them. So if the people replacing those who were let go because of misconduct are just as bad, it simply perpetuates a cycle of misconduct and lowers morale for the organization as a whole.
All of this does not reflect well on owner Chris Ilitch either. His name is literally on IS+E so what happens with that entity, even if he is not directly involved in the decisions, is going to come back and reflect poorly on him.
Tigers fans have already been on Ilitch for years, as many long for the days when his late father Mike was running the show in Motor City. Thankfully, the younger Ilitch decided to spent money to improve the team in the past offseason but when stuff like this happens and responsibility is shirked it creates a really bad look for everyone involved.
The Tigers need to fix this and start treating their employees better otherwise these issues could have a downstream effect that turns off some fans upset with the organization as a whole.
