Tag Archives: football

Back In The game Or Back To Work Too Soon?

Posted on December 8, 2017 by Jon Rehm

Senator Dan Quick has introduced employee-friendly legislation

Last weekend’s Big 10 Conference football championship game between Ohio State and Wisconsin contained some off-the-field controversy when former Wisconsin Badger and current Cleveland Browns player, Joe Thomas, criticized the fact that Ohio State starting quarterback J.T. Barrett was playing in the game six days after arthroscopic knee surgery.

While Barrett lead the Buckeyes to victory with 211 passing yards and 60 rushing yards, Thomas argued that college players should have the option of a second opinion when it comes to major surgeries like players do in the NFL. Thomas argued that team doctors are overly influenced by coaches who want players to return to action as soon as possible and that college players are over eager to return to the field.

A similar issue will be debated in Nebraska’s legislature next month. Senator Dan Quick of Grand Island has a bill on the floor that would require an employer to pay for a second opinion if an employee disputes a finding from a doctor paid for by the employer. Quick’s bill was inspired by his experience of being sent back to work prematurely by a doctor chosen by his employer’s workers compensation insurer.

Quick is an electrician by trade and is one of the few blue-collar workers who serves in the Nebraska Legislature. Another blue-collar worker, Lee Carter, was recently elected to the legislature in Virginia. Like Quick, Carter had a bad experience after a work injury. Carter had his hours reduced after his accident and was unable to find a lawyer because of confusion over which state had jurisdiction over his work injury.

Blue collar workers running for office may be a trend as iron worker Randy Bryce is running for Congress against House Speaker Paul Ryan and Wisconsin Firefighter’s union president Mahlon Mitchell is running for Governor of Wisconsin. I am encouraged that people like Dan Quick and Lee Carter have taken their bad experiences after work injuries and have gone into politics to directly address the problems they faced first hand and make sure other workers will have better experiences if they get hurt on the job.

College Football Programs Aim to Decrease Concussions

Posted on August 29, 2016 by Brody Ockander

With the start of college football, this state, like many others around the country, is abuzz with excitement. The start of this year’s college football season comes on the heels of a recent approval of a $75 million settlement of a class-action concussions case against the NCAA.

Some of this settlement money is earmarked for research and prevention of concussions. Before this settlement, however, the NCAA had already taken a step in the direction of trying to prevent concussions and head injuries by implementing new and stricter penalties for targeting – hitting defenseless players – and using one’s helmet as a weapon to hit another player.

Whether motivated by litigation or simply to prevent more injuries, some teams have also taken steps to minimize head injuries while playing football. The Nebraska Cornhuskers, for example, have implemented rugby-style tackling techniques in order to minimize head injuries. While the push for the new style of tackling is mentioned as a way to minimize targeting penalties, perhaps the greater reason is that the big-time football programs of the country, like Nebraska, are feeling the pressure to be proactive as a team in actually reducing concussions and the long-term effects of head injuries.

But do the sacrifices that individual players make outweigh the financial rewards to the universities and governing bodies for which they play?

The Big 10 Conference alone earned $448 million in television revenue in 2015 and paid its commissioner $2.3 million. Meanwhile, college football players risk limb and sometimes even their lives without any compensation for the risks they take for their schools. Leaving it all on the field should refer to competition and effort, not the sacrifice of a player’s future.

Nebraska – A Rare Example Of How To Treat Student Athletes Better

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Rod Rehm

Can workers’ comp for Nebraska student athletes be an example for the NCAA?

Between the terrible events surrounding the Penn State football program, Mike Krzyzewski of Duke’s record-breaking win, and Taylor Branch’s controversial article in the September 2011 issue of The Atlantic magazine, there’s been a lot of coverage of college sports in the news lately. This isn’t necessarily unusual for Nebraskans. Our own University of Nebraska has one of the premier football programs, one which is revered by Cornhusker fans far and wide.

Recently, my good friends and fellow advocates for the injured, Charlie Domer and Len Jernigan wrote blog posts pointing out some of the challenges athletes face.

The bottom line of these posts is that athletes face serious health risks – from brain injuries to chronic obesity, and yet, in most states, collegiate athletes have only basic student health coverage to protect them and are prohibited by the NCAA’s strict rules from earning extra income to purchase additional coverage.

Since 1984, Nebraska law has provided additional protection for college athletes. Our schools offer a rare exception among college athletics programs by offering students a form of workers’ compensation.

In The Atlantic, Branch makes the point that the NCAA has treated college athletes unfairly for years. Schools profit tremendously from the risks student athletes take without compensating them beyond their college scholarships.

But Nebraska is different. Since 1984, Nebraska law has provided additional protection for college athletes. Our schools offer a rare exception among college athletics programs by offering students a form of workers’ compensation.

If we do continue to enforce amateurism in collegiate sports, perhaps Nebraska law can serve as an example for other states to follow.

This difference is because in 1984 the Nebraska Legislature enacted a law (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 85-106.05), which mandated that the University of Nebraska establish an insurance program to provide coverage to student athletes for personal injury or death while participating in university- organized games or practice in an intercollegiate athletic event.

This law covers students Continue reading →

The NFL’s surprising occupational hazard: obesity that kills, PART 2

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Rod Rehm

Today more then 350 NFL linemen weigh over 300 pounds.

Today we have a follow-up from our colleague Len Jernigan of North Carolina.

Last week, we shared a post about a surprisingly common illness affecting retired NFL players: chronic obesity.

In 1990, less than 70 players in the NFL weighed more than 300 pounds. Today there are more than 350 who weigh that much. All this weight adds up to
higher death rates for retired NFL linemen than for the general public.

Retired NFL players are more likely to have medical conditions that go along with obesity Continue reading →

Workers' Compensation Watch

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Tag Archives: football

Back In The game Or Back To Work Too Soon?

College Football Programs Aim to Decrease Concussions

Nebraska – A Rare Example Of How To Treat Student Athletes Better

The NFL’s surprising occupational hazard: obesity that kills, PART 2

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