And finally this morning, you can take the Los Angeles Rams out of Missouri, but you apparently can’t take the Missouri out of the Rams’ workers compensation contract language:
Per a league source, contracts being offered to new players state that the laws of Missouri, not California, control the relationship. The NFL Players Association has in turn instructed all certified contract agents to reject that term as “inappropriate.”
Why does the Rams ownership care what state workers comp claims are filed in? Because, as Deadspin reports, California workers are entitled to about 25% more in workers comp claims, so with NFL players having a distressing tendency for getting hurt on the job, the Rams could save some money here — probably on the order of thousands of dollars rather than millions, sure, but when you’re trying to finance a nearly $3 billion stadium out of your own pocket, you can’t pass up any opportunity to screw over both your employees and the state you left behind.
Couldn’t t there be a lack of intent and just that someone forgot to update the boilerplate?
This is a valid NFLPA complaint. If you don’t want to pay the increase in workman’s comp, then don’t apply for relocation to California in the first place.
Actually it is much deeper than just saving on a few bucks in terms of workman’s comp. A California attorney posted on Deadspin claiming California is one of the few states that classify long-term debilitating injuries in determining workman’s comp and disability insurance. I verified with some people I know who specialize in workman’s comp law: that attorney spoke the truth. This is huge considering the long-term liabilities of the Rams in California, because as we all know, American football is incredibly debilitating physically.
As a businessman myself, it is paramount to maximise revenues while minimising costs. Labor and related expenses are by far the biggest costs. Having said that, if you want to maximise revenues, you damn well better know the consequences and be willing to deal with them. California is no joke when it comes to labor laws and extracting their pound of flesh regarding taxation. Ask the rideshare companies how that’s going for them.
The NFL owners are a different kind of businessman. They make the Wall Street guys look like charity cases. I thought Snyder was bad. Kroenke is the worst yet. At least with Snyder you see him coming. It’s bad enough Hairpiece Stan negotiated in complete bad faith with St. Louis. That’s not enough for him; he wants to embarrass them. He doesn’t want to refund the PSL or luxury suite deposits. Claiming it isn’t economically viable for him to privately-finance a new stadium in St. Louis, requiring a hand-out from the city; he just spend over $700 million in purchasing land in Texas (about $300 million more he claimed he needed from St. Louis in order to build a new stadium there). He’s looking for millions in tax breaks for real estate development in Missouri (anchored by a Wal-Mart of course). He commissions a report completely trashing the economic viability of the city to support professional American football (not enough corporate support), yet wants to use the state for his economic benefit. He nearly fractures an ownership group who’s normally united over everything regarding money. He managed to do all these things within 6 months.
The man has somehow became the most devious owner in a sport full of them.
Well, as they say, greed is addictive. Maybe we need to approach the owners as mental illness cases. Just say no!