Another Year of Great Benefits
I just received the current renewal form for my annual membership in the NFLPA Retired Players. For belonging, most of us retired players actually only receive an annual membership directory and a fancy plastic wallet card claiming how the NFL supports Past – Present – Future (yeah, right!).
Plus we’re allowed to send a $100 check to these crooks! (Click on the documents to enlarge for easier reading.)
Here are some questions that I would like to ask NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith:
- What is the mission statement for the NFLPA Retired Players Steering Committee?
- Are these 9 retired players compensated for being on this Committee?
- How often are these committee members changed or elected?
- What about their travel expenses?
- What have they specifically done to improve pensions/disability for their fellow retired players?
- Under programs they have listed: An opportunity to obtain a Player Assistance Trust grant of up to $20,000 for catastrophic health or a financial hardship.
In my humble opinion, since there isn’t a legitimate disability system and their “dire need assistance programs” are for emergency car and mortgage payments instead of a real pension, so every health issue becomes a catastrophic issue for most retired players and their families and creates a real financial hardship. These phony programs created by the NFLPA as well as the Commissioner (at the request of the owners as whitewash for Congress) are gibberish!
Johnny Unitas, who is considered by many to be the greatest player ever to play in the NFL, was denied Disability Benefits. (Read the prior post about Johnny Unitas by clicking HERE.) Once again, some hand-picked NFL doctor made an employment decision that was beyond his level of expertise, leaving Johnny and his family fighting a corrupt system that still managed to pay Upshaw and his family as much $20,000,000 or more a year in salary, benefits and bonuses while denying someone like Johnny Unitas his earned Disability Benefits.
I would really like to know what types of jobs a qualified Rehabilitation Vocational Specialist would have recommended for Johnny Unitas? We continue to read where 98% of the time, these NFL doctors – no matter how severely the retired player is injured – use the word “sedentary” to describe the type of work he can perform. My question is, “Please be specific and give me a list of these sedentary jobs.” That’s where the silence begins! Nobody seems to know (except the Groom Law Group who designed this illegal disability debacle in the first place).
Look at Johnny Unitas’ list of injuries:
- three ribs, one vertebra broken;
- right knee ligament torn;
- right arm smashed;
- both knees replaced;
- virtually unable to use his right hand;
- add in chronic pain and his age.
The Retirement Committee owes the Unitas estate a monetary award for disability plus punitive damages for breaching their fiduciary duty to the player and his beneficiaries (not to mention violating their own plan document), as well as an answer to this one simple question: Exactly what job(s) was Johnny Unitas supposed to be able to do based on his long-term disabilities?
Then to also use the excuse that he was over 55 years of age is lame because that is just another roadblock for denial to injured players that was also created by the Groom Law Group. In my opinion, this is on the same level of thievery as Gene Upshaw saying, “It is the law. You can’t receive a pension and a disability benefit.” When asked again by Washington Post Staff journalist Michael Leahy, who said, “Are you sure?” Upshaw answered, “Yes, it is the law.”
I guess if you tell a lie long enough they’ll believe the lie to be a fact (but it’s still a lie).
The Retirement Board owes the Unitas family – and the rest of us – some answers about what specific jobs he would have been qualified to do and a settlement for illegally denying Johnny Unitas and his family access to the full benefits that this man surely paid for with his blood and sweat!
P.S. – I just got scheduled for total right hip replacement before the end of this year – watch for more gory operation pictures!
Another Year of Great Benefits
September 23rd, 2009 at 7:04 PM #
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Dave Pear
September 23rd, 2009 at 8:12 PM #
To the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle Retirement Board,
We are ALL anxiously waiting to read the list of jobs that Johnny Unitas was qualified and physically able to perform. According to the NFL, Unitas was not “totally and permanently disabled.”
What expert with the NFL made this profound determination? Who is accountable?
Next, I have the same request for myself. In 1995, the NFL allowed me the opportunity to provide my own transportation to Miami, Florida to be examined by one of their own selected doctors, Dr. Hugh S. Unger. I was applying for total and permanent disability. Dr. Unger checked off 80%+ disabled because it was the highest number listed on the NFL form.
Dr. Unger writes, “From my physical examination, this patient is markedly incapacitated from both the cervical and lumbar areas, all of which were secondary to injuries sustained while playing professional Football.” (My emphasis.)
Next, he answers the question, “In what type of employment can he engage?” Dr. Unger writes, “Sedentary: no excessive standing no bending, and no lifting over 7 to 15 pounds. Must be able to rest frequently.”
There is that word “sedentary” again. What the heck does that mean? Sedentary seems to be the word that the Groom Law Group instructed ALL NFL doctors examining disabled players to use when determining and selecting employment.
Please ask the retirement board to ask their rehabilitation and vocational specialist to send me a list of jobs that I might have applied for? Can you think of any jobs off the top of your head that would allow for frequent rest breaks? Also, my doctor recommended that I elevate my leg when I lie down. In your humble opinion, do you see this as a potential problem since a cot would not work and I would require a king-sized bed? What if I fell asleep during my frequent rest breaks? Would that be an issue? What is your definition of frequent? My doctor told me that I should sit for 20 minutes and then stand for 20 minutes. I would then need a rest break. Would this be a reasonable request of any employer?
Thank you for your valuable time and expertise.
My wife and I kindly request a prompt reply. Thank you!
Sincerely,
Dave & Heidi Pear