NFLPA files lawsuit on behalf of players against NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell
The National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) as expected has filed a lawsuit in a federal court on behalf of three players who have been suspended by NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, for their participation in the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal.
Goodell had on Tuesday, upheld the suspensions against New Orleans Saints defensive end, Will Smith and former Saints players, Anthony Hargrove and Scott Fujita.
NFLPA along with the players called the appeal hearings a sham and in the lawsuit called Goodell biased while alleging that he had broken labour laws by determining the punishments before taking the appeals hearings.
In the lawsuit the players union stated:
"The investigation and arbitration process that the Commissioner's public relations machinery touted as 'thorough and fair' has, in reality, been a sham.”
It further stated:
"[Goodell] launched a public campaign defending the punishments he intended to arbitrate, rendering him incurably and evidently biased."
Calling on the court to overrule the appeals decision, the NFLPA also requested the court to order a different arbitrator to oversee new proceedings over the bounty scandal.
It also alleged that Goodell had denied the punished players access to critical evidence and witnesses to form their defence and this action showed that the commissioner was biased from the start.
New Orleans Saints defensive captain, Jonathan Vilma, had already filed a separate lawsuit against the commissioner in court.
The NFL on its part has called the NFLPA’s action as having no basis and that it goes against the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) signed between the league and union in 2011.
NFL spokesman, Greg Aiello, said:
"These procedures have been in place, and have served the game and players well, for many decades.”
This is the first step in what could become a long running saga between the players and NFL.
Goodell had laid down heavy suspension on the Saints players.
Vilma was suspended for the entire 2012 season while Hargrove, Smith and Fujita each face eight, four and three game suspensions respectively.
More developments on the bounty scandal will come out in the coming days and it seems NFL fans will be stuck with news on the scandal for many more months to come.
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