Posted on 05/10/2013 4:15:58 PM PDT by Huntress
After 24 knee operations, the National Football League’s former Man of the Year leans heavily on a crutch. When Reggie Williams pulls up his pants leg, what’s underneath looks like the trimmings from a butcher shop. His right leg is so ravaged that it’s three inches shorter than his left. Worse, it’s uninsured.
Once, Williams was the NFL’s high ideal. From 1976 to 1989 he was a spring-legged linebacker for the Cincinnati Bengals who set franchise records and played in two Super Bowls. Off the field, he was a civic-minded Dartmouth graduate who won humanitarian awards and served as a city councilman while he was still playing. He was so loyal to the game that he was a pallbearer at legendary team founder Paul Brown’s funeral. He would even be invited to apply for the job of NFL commissioner.
But now, Williams and his battered legs amount to a bill no one wants to pay. Since 2005 Williams, 58, has suffered a cascade of health problems he says stem from his 14-year football career, including multiple knee replacements and a bone infection, which he estimates have cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars out of pocket.
Williams says he is unable to qualify for most NFL disability benefits, and the Bengals — the only team for whom he played — are opposing him in a workers’ compensation claim that would provide for his medical care. These tedious battles have transformed him from a league champion into a critic. “All they’ve done is fought me on everything,” he says, “including even sending me a Band-Aid.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
There is some litigation going on now that may force the NFL to take care of cases like this. Frankly, I think it’s shameful the players’ association didn’t do more for the retirees in their last contract, but I guess that would have taken away from their pot.
By what bizarre leap do you suppose that my not being in favor of welfare for players means I’m in favor of welfare for owners?
Play college ball. Earn a college degree. When the body can’t cut it anymore, the degree is the backup plan. I know that is what I have always heard preached.
I should not have to pay, and the owners should not have to pay unless they agree to. It’s called freedom. If a worker can get his owner to agree to pay that’s fine, if the owner does not agree to pay, and the worker is injured, then that’s the way it goes. It’s a freedom thing.
I don’t know what the contracts say. As far as I know it doesn’t matter. They are doing a job and if they get hurt at that job its the employers responsibility.
I’m sure its not that clear cut since the owners have so many lawyers but I know I’m responsible for any employee or contractor who works for me.
The medical care they receive from the team is primarily focused on keeping the on the field, not their overall health.
Thanks..
What people are forgetting is... these players sign contracts to deliver a product.. that product being a certain level of performance on a football field. They owed themselves and their families the foresight of stipulating that all medical care pertaining to football injuries be covered on their compensation package, or at least a stipend paid to an account that would be tapped later.
I’m not buying... nor with I ever buy.. that ex-players are somehow owed something they didn’t negotiate for in the first place.
Notice I said the employer was responsible, not the taxpayer.
I don’t have a choice whether to pay for my injured employees, why the hell should these billionaires have a choice?
I guess you think the elites in our society should have special rights.
Your reading comprehension is a bit lacking. I never said you should have to pay, and rich owners should get a better deal. Perhaps you are responding to another post.
I never addressed your situation at all, but now I will—you absolutely should NOT have to do ANYTHING EVER FOR ANY OF YOUR EMPLOYEES that you do not freely agree to in a private setting. That the law apparently requires you to do so, is a very bad thing.
No... you don't know, nor do I.. but those players, their agents and lawyers do.
They are doing a job and if they get hurt at that job its the employers responsibility.
And they receive appropriate treatment for injuries pertaining to the job. Not sure how that's the problem here.
The medical care they receive from the team is primarily focused on keeping the on the field, not their overall health.
What law stipulates the NFL or the team is required to provide long-term care, when language doesn't exist in the contract? Apparently none.
“What law stipulates the NFL or the team is required to provide long-term care, when language doesn’t exist in the contract? Apparently none.”
Workers Comp law, the same one that covers you at work. In Florida its chapter 440. Heck I own the company and had an incredibly difficult time not having to pay for myself. The only people exempt are officers of the company and only if they file the proper paperwork.
If the law stipulates it, then what is the issue?
“you absolutely should NOT have to do ANYTHING EVER FOR ANY OF YOUR EMPLOYEES that you do not freely agree to in a private setting. That the law apparently requires you to do so, is a very bad thing.”
Oh I do agree to it, apparently its in the fine print when you start a business. Fortunately my rates are really low so I only have to pay about 2% of salarys for the insurance.
The owners have better lawyers then the players.
This is the issue which will kill the NFL.
If it’s in the fine print, and you didn’t put it there, then you didn’t give it freely. Look, I’m on your side—you are an EMPLOYER, something I will never be because I am risk averse. You create jobs and move America forward. You DO NOT OWE YOUR EMPLOYEES ONE SINGLE DAMN THING that you do not agree to. Or at least that would be the case in a civilized nation. You should not be forced to give x to your employees nor should billionaires.
ego-maniacal idiot in Los Angeles with more dollars than sense brings a team here to screw over the traffic even more than it already is.
I am not jealous — I take care of my own. Yet, I do not make the millions these guys do.
I guess you are one of the many who think that everyone deserves a free ride at the expense of others.
In the context of owner/player relations, if the owners have better lawyers, that is a GREAT thing. The owners are NOT the welfare begging bums who need the g. to help them out. That would be the players who blow their millions on crack and hos and makin’ it rain, and 10 Benzes, and million dollar ear rings, etc. The players, with good lawyers and a corrupt system behind them, will bankrupt the NFL. The owners will grow the NFL because they are not crack addict wife beaters.
I don’t agree. Employers are responsible for the work environment. Without financial risk some employers would not spend a dime on safety.
In this case the owners are probably spending more money to avoid responsibility then it would cost to provide care.
Yeah thats me. You got it.
Thats exactly why I run my own business.
“The owners are NOT the welfare begging bums who need the g. to help them out. “
Which is why almost every single owner runs his business out of a facility paid for by tax payers.
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