Dave Pear's Blog

Moran vs. NFLPA and NFL Players Inc.

Does the NFLPA think the same way about you?

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Valerie Thomas

Former NFLPA Director of Human Resources Mary Moran is at WAR against the NFLPA and she is taking no prisoners. In August 2009 Moran filed a $4 million lawsuit that claimed sex discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination of her employment in violation of public policy because she participated in a DOL Office of Labor Fraud and Racketeering investigation of the NFLPA. Moran claimed that the actions of NFLPA management created serious and troubling ethical concerns for her. General Counsel Richard Berthelsen called Mary Moran “a necessary casualty.”

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In our last post – Valerie Thomas: Life Under Upshaw – former NFLPA Research Analyst and Paralegal Valerie Thomas discussed her years of abuse and violation of her employee’s rights under the heavy hand of departed Executive Director Gene Upshaw and his inner circle. Bob Grant had posted several questions to her in the comments section about the toll from her long battle with the NFLPA and how it has affected her and her family over the years. This is Part 2 of Valerie Thomas’ story.

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We hope your legal team is reading this blog, Mr. Smith. You owe Valerie Thomas big time!

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Bob’s Questions:

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Valerie Thomas

Dave,

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Thank you for your earlier comment and for allowing me to be an active participant on your blog.

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It’s hard to accept that a union whose efforts that you supported, including financially, would turn against you in your time of need: your  post-football career.

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I know first-hand what it feels like to be ignored and it is even more dehumanizing to have been ignored while looking in the faces of the perpetrators on a daily basis. For example, my basic needs and rights to have access to my job were denied. When I reported to work, I was locked out with no key to get in the front door and no key to access the elevator. Once on the elevator, I couldn’t get off on the floor where I worked. Instead, I could only get off on the floor below mine and had to walk up a public stairwell. During the mornings, when I had to do business on other floors I had to walk up and down the public stairwells. I could not use the elevator like everyone else, including interns and temporary employees. At lunchtime and upon my return from lunch, I had to go through the same routine with no access to my floor and walk up a public stairwell (two sets of 12 stairs = 24 steps each way). In the afternoons, if I had to do business on other floors, I had to walk up and down the public stairwells. NFLPA management and its legal representatives harassed, intimidated and retaliated against me; they dared me to protect my rights and when I did, they then cheated and stole my livelihood and my family’s legacy.

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December ended up being a crazy busy month for Dave: 2 print interviews and 3 radio interviews so far. Dave’s primary focus has been on getting the word out on disability benefits and pensions, as well as answering some questions on the recent Parrish vs. Players Inc. GLA settlement.

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Jeff Pearlman did a story for Sports Illustrated/CNN on Dave’s personal regrets about having played football. That helped generate over a million hits this month for the blog.
Click HERE to read that article.

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Wayne Coffey from the New York Daily News talked to Dave about the sad story of fellow Buccaneers’ teammate Jimmie Giles:
Click HERE to read that article.

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Sirius FM98′s Hardcore Sports Radio interviewed Dave on Dec. 16th:

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“When someone is running a con on you, you won’t be able to stop them until you understand how their con works.”

- Bob Grant

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Valerie Thomas uncovered another perfect example of how the NFL does as little as it can to look like they’re doing a lot. But as with everything else they do – like all those new programs they keep rolling out each year for its retired players – there’s little real substance when you look more closely at each new PR campaign that they announce. The Commissioner just loves stepping up to  announce new programs.

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This summer, the NFL made a big deal about their diversity program under the newly-announced Rooney Rule.

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Valerie Thomas

Valerie Thomas writes a great analysis on the StarCaps case and how it relates to the CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) and Congress. The NFL and its owners would love to have its powers expanded stealthily by trying to pull a fast one on Congress. We hope someone calls them on it before it happens!

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The NFL is trying to get Congress to sanction the CBA-negotiated right to be prosecutor, defense, judge AND jury! Commissioner Roger Goodell advocates “narrow and specific legislation that would confirm the primacy of Federal labor law and to respect agreements on this important subject.”

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Valerie Thomas

NFL Players are hired to be fired. When they enter the NFL they’re healthy enough to pass a physical but after performing for their employers and sustaining injuries, they become unhealthy, unable to pass physicals and are eventually cut, fired or forced to retire.

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Each season, there are more than 50 Active players on each of 32 NFL teams (a total of 1600 players) with approximately 704 starting lineup players per week (22 players – offense and defense). Each week, during the NFL season, more than one player will leave the field due to a severe injury. Fans are usually not aware of the seriousness of players’ injuries until the following week’s pre-game hype. The media reports probabilities about participation and make predictions about winning teams.

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In January 2009, four Congressmen signed and sent a letter to the Department of Labor about concerns of the integrity of the NFLPA election process. At the behest of his daughter Mary, Congressman Jim Moran looked into the matter.

SPACE

According to a Sports Business Daily article in January 2009, Congressman Jim Moran was the first “Whistleblower.”

SPACE

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A few months ago, the media reported that newly-elected NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith had returned to D.C. from another road trip meeting with active players, only to find his office engulfed in flames. (Read that post from June HERE.) Apparently someone had left a candle burning in an adjacent bathroom late at night while the new boss was away… (?!!!) It seems that a lot of old Gene Upshaw memorabilia may have been damaged or destroyed in the fire.

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So now more news comes out to confirm that Mary Moran, the NFLPA’s highly-paid Director of Human Resources, had been placed on suspended leave  – WITH pay – a few weeks ago. Moran, daughter of Congressman Jim Moran (D-Michigan), filed a tell-all discrimination lawsuit for $4 million last week against the NFLPA and apparently also had Daddy kick off an investigation by the Dept. of Labor. While we’ve only seen snippets of the lawsuit, we understand there’s something on pretty much everyone in the lawsuit. Looks like Moran is now taking a scorched earth approach to her departure. (Read the coverage on Sports Business Journal HERE.) Talk about burning all your bridges behind you as you leave.

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NFLPA's Revolving Door

A Call for Transparency and Accountability

NFLPA PAYS OUTSIDE STAFFING AGENCIES $304,610 in Four (4) Years

The NFLPA Human Resources (HR) Department

The following information was compiled from the U.S. Department of Labor, Federation of Professional Athletes (FPA), NFLPA, Labor-Management (LM-2) reports for Fiscal Year (FY) 2006 through Fiscal Year (FY) 2009.

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