Some of you still remember those Congressional Hearings from last year into the NFL and NFLPA’s disability mess. During those hearings, Gene Upshaw had the details from private disability application hearings for 9 retired players’ cases (Dave’s case was one of them) publicly posted on the NFLPA’s website is that infamous White Paper. As soon as we discovered what they had done, we wrote about it and it was taken down very quickly (click HERE and HERE to read those earlier posts). It was just another dirty-tricks-as-usual tactic to get even with some of the players who spoke up during those hearings. You would think that would have been the end of it. But it was only recently that we happened to be reviewing the Congressional Judiciary Committee’s final report on their website that we discovered one of the Exhibits under the NFL hearings (Exhibit A) contained the same information from the NFLPA’s original White Paper, including all that personal disability data for each of those 9 retired players’ hearings! (Below is a screenshot of the earlier page with Exhibit A available.)
We were astounded that the NFLPA would subsequently hand over that same private information to Congress after having already been notified of their violation. We see this as another blatant attempt to smear those players for their brave decision to speak out against the injustice. The Judiciary Committee then inadvertently published the document and apparently it’s been up for well over a year with little notice until we just happened to be reading it more closely a couple of weeks ago. It was shocking to see all that information back online once again!
We were fortunate enough to have been put in touch with Judiciary Counsel Eric Tamarkin (through Congressman John Conyers office) who so graciously managed to get that particular Exhibit taken down quickly (clicking on Exhibit A now tells you the document has been removed). Which is why we can now finally write about it at last (we didn’t want to point any more attention to the page until it was actually taken down). Click HERE to see the current Congressional page where Exhibit A is now gone!
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Last week, Dave received a note and a packet of paperwork from Eden Haladay at the NFL Player Care Foundation. Dave had no idea why they were even sending him something like this but we took some time to look over the paperwork and the process involved.
Keep in mind that over the years, Dave’s experiences with the various “programs” have generally resulted in a lot of skepticism and made cynics out of most of us who have followed these things for a while. The best recent example was Dave’s experience with the Hip Replacement program (read about some of that in a recent post HERE).
Check out the application forms as well as all the Disclosures and caveats attached. Basically, they want you – and your spouse – to submit to what amounts to a full body-cavity search for financial and criminal background information. All this while the NFL hides behind its antitrust protection and the NFLPA continues to demand an audit of the NFL’s books – even as they both continue to keep as much information on themselves hidden as they possibly can. The Player Care Foundation wants at least two years of your tax returns – along with your spouse’s tax returns. Apparently, this is now going to be their new policy in processing applications. While we can understand the need to prevent fraud, there’s absolutely no assurances that your information will be kept confidential and not used against you for their own ends. During Upshaw’s reign, Dave’s personal, confidential medical information was posted online for a while in their White Paper debacle (read about that HERE) – a clear violation of HIPAA laws.
It’s not like they hand out much money to the few applicants who manage to apply but the real question remains: If the pension and disability benefits programs were actually functional and worked the way they were supposed to work – while at least matching that of MLB – would any of these window-dressing programs developed and run by hired bureaucrats be necessary? Shouldn’t the objective be to clear the roadblocks and make it easier for the retired players to get access to what’s owed to them rather than have them jump through endless hoops for something that’s not there? (As always, click on each page to enlarge for easier reading.)
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Well, here it is: John Hogan’s proposed NFLPA Disability Plan that he would have liked to have presented to Commissioner Goodell and all of the players present at the Oct. 8th Dallas meeting (click HERE to read about what happened). (And John Hogan’s website is HERE).
Working with the Retired Football Players Association (RFPA – click HERE), John has helped to address and write a practical proposal that makes sense and can be implemented for the benefit of all NFL players, past and present. It’s a pragmatic document that addresses many of the current policies and problems and why they’ve proven to be both ineffective and counterproductive. Worse, it also identifies key areas of common practice that have consistently ignored or violated Federal HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) laws over the years.
With years of experience first earned while working for Social Security Administration followed by a career as a Social Security Disability lawyer who has represented many NFL players already, John Hogan brings a very unique skillset that few other attorneys have. Keep in mind, this is a work in progress, but by posting this proposal online where everyone can read and comment on it, we can hope that it will provide everyone a starting point for an open dialog among the players, their union and the NFL.
This version is in Adobe Acrobat PDF format; if you don’t have a copy of the free Adobe Reader to view and print it, you can download it first by clicking on the ADOBE button below.
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Dear Gene,
For some strange reason, things seem to keep disappearing or changing, much like the rules. What happened to:
- The original Union website: NFLPA.org?
- The Truth Squad: They were supposed to unequivocally counter all those claims from the disabled retired players that don’t exist. Honest. (The truth will set you free.)
- The Great White Paper: Wasn’t it a violation of the retired players’ civil rights and/or HIPAA law for their union – the NFLPA – to post our medical information on a public website without their permission or knowledge?
- Information continues to completely disappear from the NFLPA replacement website, NFLPlayers.com. (Thank goodness for Google search because it may be deleted but NOT lost!)
- Another good example is that press release for the 4-page $240,000 spread for Gene Upshaw in Ebony Magazine. Where did that go?
Regards,
Dave & Heidi Pear
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