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The NFL Players Association will reportedly begin paying players in need from its lockout fund beginning April 15.
NFL.com reported that the players association began contacting players this week. Players can reportedly receive a maximum of $60,000 spread over six payments or the lockout's duration.
The fund was created through player dues and rights fees during the 2009 and 2010 seasons, NFL.com reported. A player must have been on a 53-man roster for all 34 weeks of regular-season games during those two seasons to receive the maximum, according to the website.
The NFL Players Association dissolved as a union hours before being locked out by the league March 11. Now it looks toward April 6, when a lawsuit filed by 10 players requesting an injunction to end the lockout will be heard in U.S. District Court in St. Paul, Minn.
No ruling in the hearing is expected until mid-April at the earliest, an NFLPA source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter on Monday.
On Monday, current NFL players defended their right to disband as a union and file the antitrust suit, saying employers cannot force workers to unionize, and dissolution is "not akin to turning off a light switch."
The players made the statements in a court document filed in response to the NFL's assertion decertification was "a sham."
The players say that prior court decisions have made it clear the right of workers not to unionize is absolute. The players disclaimed their union, gave up the right to strike, to collectively bargain and to have union representation.
"The players sacrificed these labor law rights for one reason: to gain the ability to assert antitrust claims against anticompetitive restrictions imposed by defendants," lawyers for the players argued on Monday.
The NFLPA had advised its members to save their last three game checks from last season in case the 2011 season is canceled. Players are not being paid during the lockout and also are not receiving benefits, including health insurance.
Dennis Curran, NFL senior vice president of labor litigation and policy, wrote to agents in February, saying that under the federal law known as COBRA, players can continue existing medical coverage for themselves and their families for up to 18 months.
"The insurance can be paid for by the player or the NFLPA," Curran said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.
The NFL has not missed games due to labor strife since 1987, when the players went on strike and the owners continued the season with replacement players.
Source: AP
NFL.com reported that the players association began contacting players this week. Players can reportedly receive a maximum of $60,000 spread over six payments or the lockout's duration.
The fund was created through player dues and rights fees during the 2009 and 2010 seasons, NFL.com reported. A player must have been on a 53-man roster for all 34 weeks of regular-season games during those two seasons to receive the maximum, according to the website.
The NFL Players Association dissolved as a union hours before being locked out by the league March 11. Now it looks toward April 6, when a lawsuit filed by 10 players requesting an injunction to end the lockout will be heard in U.S. District Court in St. Paul, Minn.
No ruling in the hearing is expected until mid-April at the earliest, an NFLPA source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter on Monday.
On Monday, current NFL players defended their right to disband as a union and file the antitrust suit, saying employers cannot force workers to unionize, and dissolution is "not akin to turning off a light switch."
The players made the statements in a court document filed in response to the NFL's assertion decertification was "a sham."
The players say that prior court decisions have made it clear the right of workers not to unionize is absolute. The players disclaimed their union, gave up the right to strike, to collectively bargain and to have union representation.
"The players sacrificed these labor law rights for one reason: to gain the ability to assert antitrust claims against anticompetitive restrictions imposed by defendants," lawyers for the players argued on Monday.
The NFLPA had advised its members to save their last three game checks from last season in case the 2011 season is canceled. Players are not being paid during the lockout and also are not receiving benefits, including health insurance.
Dennis Curran, NFL senior vice president of labor litigation and policy, wrote to agents in February, saying that under the federal law known as COBRA, players can continue existing medical coverage for themselves and their families for up to 18 months.
"The insurance can be paid for by the player or the NFLPA," Curran said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.
The NFL has not missed games due to labor strife since 1987, when the players went on strike and the owners continued the season with replacement players.
Source: AP