Workplace Code of Conduct: Harassment & Discrimination (MLB-MLBPA)
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A jointly issued single-page MLB-MLBPA Workplace Code of Conduct addressing harassment and discrimination. Issued February 20, 2026. The Code prohibits harassment and discrimination 'based on race, sex, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, ancestry, gender identity and expression, military veteran status, or sexual orientation,' and explicitly extends the workplace beyond the field and clubhouse to include front offices, online and virtual spaces, press briefings, spring training, recruiting events, and any venue where MLB personnel and players interact. The Code quotes the Basic Agreement's non-discrimination clause (Article XV.A in the 2022-26 CBA).
Background
Single-page joint poster, dated February 20, 2026. The Bruce Meyer 'Interim Executive Director' attribution is itself diagnostic — Meyer took on interim leadership of the MLBPA during the leadership transition following Tony Clark's federal investigation. Meyer was previously Deputy Executive Director / Senior Director of Collective Bargaining, and is the union's lead CBA negotiator. This Code being issued under his name (rather than Clark's) suggests it was distributed during the active transition period in early 2026. The text's invocation of 'sportsmanship' as the integrative concept is notable: it connects the harassment/discrimination prohibition to the same Commissioner's-best-interests / public-confidence framework that runs through Rule 21 and the Constitution. The workplace-definition expansion — explicitly including online/virtual/text/social-media spaces — is the operative basis for any social-media-related harassment discipline.
Key provisions
- Protected characteristics: race, sex, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, ancestry, gender identity and expression, military veteran status, sexual orientation.
- Definition — Harassment: any verbal, physical, or visual behavior directed at another individual because of a protected characteristic that (i) has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment; or (ii) materially interferes with an individual's work performance.
- Definition — Discrimination: any adverse job-related decision or less favorable treatment of an individual or group because of a protected characteristic.
- Examples enumerated as harassment/discrimination: slurs/insults/jokes, bullying, unwelcome physical contact, pornography.
- Player obligations: respect fellow players and employees; report misconduct (to Field Manager, GM, Commissioner's Office, or Players Association); be a model of sportsmanship on-field, online, in tweets, with reporters.
- Workplace definition (expansive): not just the field or clubhouse — includes front offices, virtual/online spaces, phone, text, tweet, email, official Club or MLB events, social gatherings, press briefings, spring training, recruiting. Covers reporters as well as League/Club employees.
- Quoted Basic Agreement provision: 'The provisions of this Agreement shall be applied to all Players covered by this Agreement without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, or any other classification protected under Federal Law.' (Tracks Article XV.A No Discrimination of the 2022-26 CBA.)
Notable provisions
MLB does not tolerate harassment or discrimination based on race, sex, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, ancestry, gender identity and expression, military veteran status, or sexual orientation.— Workplace Code, header
Major League Baseball aspires towards a collective culture of acceptance and mutual respect for the individual differences of the people that make the game of Baseball truly unique and exceptional.— Workplace Code, quoted from Robert D. Manfred, Jr., Commissioner of Baseball
The Major League Baseball Players Association supports and promotes a discrimination-free and harassment-free workplace.— Workplace Code, quoted from Bruce Meyer, Interim Executive Director, MLBPA
The workplace is not just the field or clubhouse. It includes any venue in which MLB personnel, Club employees, and players are engaged on behalf of the League or a Club, including the clubhouse, on the playing field, in a Club's front office, and any other location in which people working in and around the game of baseball interact. Harassment can occur in public or private. It can happen on the phone, through texting, tweeting, or email, in virtual or online spaces, in the locker room or stadium, at an official Club or MLB event, social gathering, press briefing, Spring Training, or during recruiting.— Workplace Code, 'What is the Workplace?'
Further context
MLB-MLBPA Workplace Code of Conduct: Harassment & Discrimination
A jointly issued single-page workplace code, issued February 20, 2026. Quotes Commissioner Manfred and (notably) Bruce Meyer as "Interim Executive Director" of the MLBPA — a diagnostic data point reflecting the union's leadership transition following Tony Clark's federal investigation.
The Code's most operationally significant feature is the expansive workplace definition that explicitly includes online and virtual spaces, social media, recruiting, and press briefings — extending workplace harassment protections (and prosecutorial reach) well beyond the field and clubhouse.
Related documents
2022-03-10_cba_mlb-cba-2022-2026.md— the Basic Agreement's Article XV.A No Discrimination clause is quoted in the Code.
References
- Primary source: img.mlbstatic.com — Major League Baseball (jointly with MLBPA), retrieved 2026-05-17.
- Confirmation source: img.mlbstatic.com — MLB (img.mlbstatic.com CDN). Single-page joint poster issued February 20, 2026. Quotes Manfred (Commissioner) and Bruce Meyer (identified as 'Interim Executive Director, MLBPA' — confirming this issuance falls in the period during/after Tony Clark's federal-investigation-related leave). Full text reviewed.
- File fingerprint: SHA256 d76179656b1eaa7fb3befcf1c003fa579039bc651fca4cd2af92be87ea7e790b.
Evidence trail
Per archive editorial standards §1.3 and §1.4, verified documents require two independent confirmation sources and an archive.org snapshot. This panel is the integrity record the archive holds for this document.
File integrity
- SHA256
d76179656b1eaa7fb3befcf1c003fa579039bc651fca4cd2af92be87ea7e790b- Filename
2026-02-20_policy_mlb-mlbpa-workplace-code-of-conduct.pdf- Format
- PDF · 1 pp · 231 KB
- Retrieved
- 2026-05-17 by
claude/cowork-9167cb28 - Primary URL
- https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/upload/fl_attachment/mlb/xgx4wn1jayqocaa7gvtu.pdf
Confirmation sources (1)
| Publisher | Retrieved | URL | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| MLB (img.mlbstatic.com CDN) | 2026-05-17 | https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/upload/fl_attachment/mlb/xgx4wn1jayqocaa7gvtu.pdf | Single-page joint poster issued February 20, 2026. Quotes Manfred (Commissioner) and Bruce Meyer (identified as 'Interim Executive Director, MLBPA' — confirming this issuance falls in the period during/after Tony Clark's federal-investigation-related leave). Full text reviewed. |
Most recent status change
needs_review on 2026-05-19 by claude/cowork-fidelity-audit-2026-05-19.
Pass B rename: 2024_policy_mlb-mlbpa-workplace-code-of-conduct → 2026-02-20_policy_mlb-mlbpa-workplace-code-of-conduct (value). NAMING.md §2.1 compliance. Old filename preserved in file.previous_filenames. No status change.