Suppose someone 1,200 miles away from you gave your name to the police when he was arrested. The police fall for this deception. Next, your boss reads that you were arrested for grand larceny and worse, you failed to appear for a court hearing. Your boss summarily fires you.
A couple of problems here. One, you were not arrested. Two, you were never scheduled to appear in court. Three, your employer never verified the information that developed 1,200 miles from you. Four, your employer never asked for your side of the story. Five, you lost your job anyway.
This sorry turn of events happened to a Dallas Cowboy receiver, Lucky Whitehead (photo, above).
The NFL players union is looking into this and is all but certain to file a grievance.
The CBA allows teams to cut players for many reasons— performance, run-ins with the law, drug violations, and others— but the contract doesn’t allow a team to cut a player based on false reporting of his arrest.
No, the CBA has a “just cause” standard. There are seven key tests for just cause—pertinent here are (1) did the employer investigate (no)?, (2) did the employer investigate fairly (no)?, and (3) did the employer have proof of a rule violation (no)?
The Cowboys refuse to undo the termination but acknowledge the mistaken identity.Lucky is lucky, however. He is not named Donald.
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