SmashMouth

Saints owner Tom Benson's longtime personal assistant who was fired last year must take his complaint over back pay to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for binding arbitration, according to court filings by the Saints on Friday (Jan. 15).

Rodney Henry, Benson's personal assistant for 25 years until last June, argues the Saints violated federal labor law by failing to pay overtime for the regularly long work hours required to keep up with the demands of the 89-year-old billionaire and his wife, Gayle Benson. He filed a lawsuit against the Saints in federal court in New Orleans in November.

On Friday, in the team's first response to the lawsuit, lawyers for the Saints said Henry signed an agreement on July 24, 2010, requiring him to follow the NFL's rules that force employee disputes into binding arbitration with the final decision made by the NFL commissioner.



The NFL's constitution mandates that "the commissioner shall have full, complete and final jurisdiction and authority to arbitrate any dispute between any ... employee of any member of the league ... and any member club or clubs," the motion says.

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