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A bill addressing professional athletes' injury benefits making its way through the Louisiana Legislature could hinder the New Orleans Saints' recruitment of free agents, a former NFLPA president said.

Kevin Mawae, a Baton Rouge resident, former LSU center and eight-time All-Pro NFL standout who served as president of the National Football League Players Association from 2008-2012, said House Bill 1069 poses a financial risk for players that team members in other states don't have to worry about.

The legislation aims to calculate workers' compensation benefits for professional athletes based only on weekly earnings at the time of the injury, rather than based on average weekly earnings over the entire year. The NFL's collective bargaining agreement has a formula for the latter calculation, which divides total annual compensation by 52 (weeks).

Timing of a prospective injury, then, becomes a determining factor in calculating how much workers compensation is owed. Players typically earn a variety of wages during the off-season and preseason that are substantially less than what they make under contract during the 17-week regular season.

Get hurt at training camp, Mawae said, and the difference could be between benefits based on earnings of $900 a week and earnings based on $8,700 a week, to use an example of a minimum wage player who makes $450,000 a year. Earn more under contract, and the gap widens. "If I'm a player coming to look at all of the benefits (of signing) ... that's a chance I don't want to take."

Read more: Proposed Louisiana law could hurt New Orleans Saints' free agency chances, former NFLPA president says | NOLA.com



All I can say is this is some B.S. BIG TIME

Ashley

Greed among the gods. I got to hear them talk about it on the radio. It sounds like its a bunch of BS to me. Just about everything in the Not For Long league is

joker-saint

That is just rediculous. A person who had been making a million dollars a year and suddenly loses their job or business doesn't get that, but they are goung to pay professional athletes higher wages? When I injured my knee at work my pay was equal to one year of salary on workers comp.

TheOak

Discrimination based on occupation. Others call it "hating".

What the bill does is calculate workmans comp if you are injured by what you actually make that week instead of a yearly divided by 52.

If you get hurt during camp your workman's comp is based off of what you made that week.

In an everyday scenario, a contract worker getting hurt on his week off would get nothing... But in Louisiana's fked up thought process this should only apply to professional athletes. It should apply to no one.

TheOak

Drew Brees, other New Orleans Saints players speak out on injury benefits legislation | NOLA.com

"(House) Bill 1069 is not good for Saints players, not good for our team or other sports teams in Louisiana and not good for our state. The job of legislators in Louisiana is to protect injured workers and fight for their workers comp benefits, not find ways to support bills like this one which reduce the workers comp benefits we receive when we get hurt. There is no financial benefit to the state with this bill, only team management. I am disappointed that Representative Bridgewater and Henry would take such a stance against our players and other Louisiana workers. Whether we get hurt during the season or in the preseason, it is all the same. It is in preparation to help us win a championship for our community." -Drew Brees

"I play in this state and I love our team, but I cannot support the efforts of legislators to pass a bill that would affect our injury benefits as athletes. There are a lot of great things about working here and we have great fans for our sports teams, but we should not have to worry about being taken care of if we're hurt on the job." -Jason Smith

"Workers compensation and injury benefits are a right that we all have as employees in America. This attempt to sneak in legislation crafted to treat professional athletes different from other workers is unfair and all players and Saints fans should fight it." -Benjamin Watson

"This bill affects athletes on all teams in Louisiana. If you are a sports fan of the Saints, Pelicans or even Voodoo, this bill will hurt those players. We cannot let that happen." -Mark Ingram

lynwood

""Workers compensation and injury benefits are a right that we all have as employees in America. This attempt to sneak in legislation crafted to treat professional athletes different from other workers is unfair and all players and Saints fans should fight it." -Benjamin Watson

Ok My thoughts are that football players are different than other workers. The odds of them ending up on workman's comp is much hire than a desk jockey for one. There should be some special insurance they can buy into or be provided for by the Team\Owner\Organization.

Having said that, The calculations for worker comp should probably be based on earnings up to the time of injury but not a 52 week year. I'm curious to know if players under contract that go out for the year for an injury still make their game time check.

TheOak

I disagree; when you get into the subjective "how often" or "how bad" injuries are its a mine field. You cant just say "football players have a higher odds of getting hurt"... Higher odds than what other occupation? Fireman, King Crab fisherman, Taekwondo Instructor, Coal Miner? The injury rate in the NFL is no where near that of many other occupations.

Why should an athlete have to buy something special just because he is an athlete?

No, a game check is a game check, roster bonus is for being on the roster. Only guaranteed money is guaranteed.

Flawed in many ways. What if you are hurt on Jan 1? What if you are a Lawn Care Professional and get hurt in February? You have to take the estimated annual and divide by 52 to get a weekly average.

Some professionals work 30/30 rotations. You get hurt on Jan 30th and it looks like you made double for that year than what you actually would.


This class warfare is BS.

st thomas

I thought u only get 2/3 of ur salary for every week ur out. full pay of ur salary don't sound right, unless there's different scales of insurance.

TheOak

In Louisiana that is correct but how they factor that weeks value is what is being debated.

TheOak

I am not sure who is actually driving this Bill. The Workmans Comp is not paid to the employee by the State in Louisiana. It is either paid by the Employer (Self Insured), or the Employers Insurance Company... All I can sort out is that either Benson or an Insurance company has a politician in their pocket to try and push legislative change that only effects professional athletes.

Considering what Benson or his insurance company paid in 2013 in Workmans Comp to the below, I can understand his pains but lets not go making laws only when it suits you..

On IR by Sep 5th before the Season Start (had to cost a few million at least)
Will Smith
Johnathan Vilma
Chris Givens
Kenyon Coleman
Victor Butler
Joeseph Morgan
Eric Olsen
Aj Davis
Chris Chamberlain