On Monday, Brian Flores will speak to the American Judiciary Association about the abolition of mandatory arbitration in racial discrimination cases. Forced arbitration allows American companies to avoid the court system, instead filing lawsuits through a closed-door investigation that a jury never hears and is, in essence, the process. lack of transparency.
Just last month, Congress banned forced arbitration in sexual harassment and assault cases and the House will consider a similar bill that would repeal forced arbitration in racial discrimination cases. as Flores’ — an arbitrator that the Miami Dolphins asked the NFL to pursue, rather than allowing Flores’ class-action suit through the justice system.
The Dolphins aren’t the only organization named in the lawsuit — executives from the New York Giants and Denver Broncos are also being sued, along with the union itself. Like Mike Florio of PFT sharp In addition, the NFL has certainly not shied away from the use (and abuse) of forced refereeing in the past and have had a reputation for concealing or clouding the results of their kangaroo courts. Instead of hiring independent arbitrators, these cases are handled by the common man and his representatives, leading to hurricanes like the one we saw in Washington last year.
So, is there any chance that the NFL will deny the Dolphins’ request for a referee? Is there any chance for them to take it to court? Maybe I’m being overly optimistic, but given the visibility of this case as well as the NFL’s recent record on racial issues, I think they can give up refereeing on this.
If they’re as confident the lawsuit is as “futile” as they continue to insist, what’s the harm in taking it to court over the union? They have way too much money to pour into the defense fund, and given the league’s image PR position at this point, transparency might be the best course of action.
“If the NFL is truly committed to ‘putting an end to racism,’ as they have repeatedly stated, the league will refuse Miami’s request for an arbitration,” Written Flores’ attorney in a letter to Roger Goodell. “Racism cannot be removed behind closed doors, and the integrity of the game depends on transparency.”
Obviously, to refuse a request for arbitration is the right what to do, and Flores’ case should be heard in court, but the NFL isn’t always on the “right” track (review: WFT Investigation). So I want to look at this from the perspective of a league that, in just the past year, has pushed sexual harassment allegations under the rug, Jon Gruden’s alleged racist emails leaked. , dealing with a star midfielder who lied about his vaccination status, etc. It is not an exact banner year. What if this was the federation’s chance to go to court, actually own something and deal with any consequences resulting from the proceedings?
America’s most famous organization could even score points in the public eye by legally looking into their hiring practices and the discrimination that Flores pointed out and making real changes. Not only will they avoid the inevitable repeat of this lawsuit, which is certain to be brought within the next decade or so if the league’s recruiting practices don’t change, they could separate themselves. from the so-called “bad apple” of the tournament (e.g. Gruden).
Of course, this argument doesn’t work if the “bad apples” are not, as Gruden claims, isolated exceptions, but instead are scapegoats for representatives of an important larger system points they reflect. But the NFL submitting this case to forced arbitration would essentially be an admission of guilt, with no specific, legal change going to happen. They will investigate, they will say that no one in the history of the league has ever been racist and acted so shockingly that anyone can accuse them of it, and the Flores case will be buried. But people would know that it was a cover-up, a way out of any actual accountability.
In a statement provided by his attorney, Flores Written:
Legislative efforts are underway to end forced adjudication of racist statements, which I fully support. I hope that the NFL and Dolphins will also support those efforts. Commissioner Goodell now has a choice to make. Will he allow this case and future racist statements to be made in a transparent and open legal process, or continue down an unacceptable path?
He’s supporting Goodell into a corner here – but the common will is, in the end, to do whatever is in the best interests of the owners. However, maybe this time, their best interests will actually be aligned with doing the right thing.
