In the NFL there has been many players that have been fined for good reason and for stupid reasons but this takes the cake. Vikings Troy Williamson was docked 25 grand from his pay to attend his grandmother funeral. This man took time out for his family at a time of need. He didnt skip practices and a game to go have fun. He went to bury a women who taught him what he knows in life as he was very close to her.
See even Emily is shocked
Why would you dock a mans pay for a game when he has a legitimate reason as to why he didnt go. He said that his family comes first and he would throw football away to take care of his family. He is truely a classy guy who believes in family. I dont blame him for leaving the team to handle this personal matter. He paid for the funeral and paid travel expenses for those in his family who couldnt afford it.
The Vikings should be ashamed of themselves and I hope Roger steps in and tells the Vikings where they can stuff that 25 grand. Good Lord have some sympothy for the man his grandmother just passed away. God forbid if someone in the coaching staff or the owners family passes away. Does this mean that if someone from the coaching staffs family passes away they have to pony up some money? And what about the owner what happens to him if someone in his family dies?
How can you even think of docking a man's salary for attending his Grandmother's funeral?? That is a total no-class act by Childress and the Vikings. Everyone involved should be ashamed. They should also remember this when one of their family members passes away and make sure they skip the funeral to attend the game. Get you priorities straight!!!
I heard about a player getting docked on SportsCenter for this. Just didn't know who.
Thank you for bringing this to the attention of the FOX Sports Community. This is just a horrible ruling. What flippin rule did he break? In the NFL, you can no longer have fun (not saying this was fun) without getting penalized. The hard-#### in the ranks need to calm down.
Nothing like family first! This is an unbelievable move on managements part. There are a lot of professional football players that pride themselves on their committment to family. Shame on you Childress and Management! And shame on the NFL for not taking a stand on this! As for Troy Williamson...thank you for showing that to you family comes first! You are a CLASS ACT!
He should be docked a season's paycheck. Not for going to the funeral, but for dropping about 10 touchdown passes in the past 2 years. He blows, I'm just mad that he came back at all.
marinefan- I hope they dont let this fly. Any other business would say take as long as you need. But the Vikings man thats low. I hate them now as much as I do the Pats
jdbly68- This isnt about how he plays the game this is about his attending a funeral for a family member. If he should get docked a whole years worth of pay then there are teams in the NFL that should be sold for how the team is playing
Berievement Leave should be included in their Union Contract, however I have never been "docked" pay for attending a family members funeral. Even if you have to take vacation leave; that's better than just being docked a day leave.
I've held off on commenting on this for a while. I can see both sides of the story. If you are fortunate enough to work for a company that provides bereavement leave that's one thing, but I've never heard of a company paying an employee while he attends a funeral, family member or not. However, I have had to take time off to attend a funeral and was not docked either. For the Vikings management to withhold pay because the player attended his Grandmother's funeral is beyond the pale, in my opinion. Nice post, BroncoGirl.
most of the places i know of give you up to 3 days....if you're lucky (if there's such a thing as luck involving the death of a loved one), you get a day or 2 extra if you are a pall bearer.
where i used to work, you got paid for the 1st day, but i'm not sure after that.
i'm actually torn on this. it's really not that different than most policies for "regular" folks, so him losing a game check doesnt really bother me that much. now, if he was fined on top of it (not sure if he was or not), THEN it stinks.
...like sean salisbury said tho....'if this were adrian peterson, would the vikings have docked his pay....'? i have a feeling they still would have, but his point is about star players vs. just another player.
My guess is he was docked before knowing where he was. Williamson should have told them where he was going. That is what you do when you leave your job for a legit reason.
Now what I mean by docked is I'm pretty sure the team has to contact the NFL head office to report all fines. They may have made the call a day before knowing why Williamson bailed for the funeral. But I am not 100% sure how the process goes.
Every company is different. It is not fair to judge the Vikings organization without knowing all the facts. This is basic common sense. Most companies do have a policy for funeral time, but pay usually only occurs when it is an "immediate" family member, i.e. spouse, child, mother or father, brother or sister. You have to draw the line somewhere. Most companies have drawn the line with immediate family. Why is it so bad to have a rule like that? None of you have any idea what converstaions may have occured between the "key" people involved in this scenario. This is such an unfortunate typical reaction to "big business." Its usually always big business that is hurting the individual. Open your eyes people, big business (Vikings) are held to high accountability...they know they will be in the news over situations such as this, but they just can't roll over when emotions factor into the scene. You want strong, firm yet fair leadership. Are there corrupt organizations...of course, are there ogre managements...of course, has the news media trained the public to react negatively to "the big company"...you bet they have.
Give-em-a-brake until their guilt is justified.
Steve there is nothing that can justify what they did. For the Broncos if someone has a family member pass they get the time they need. A lot of these guys were close to grandmothers and grandfathers and were even raised by them, so even if the grandparents arent the parents shouldnt they be treated the same if they were since they were the ones who raised the individual? Troy was very close to his grandmother. She taught him what he knows. He should have went to that funeral like he did and not be docked for it. ( Does that all make sense?)
the way i understood it, the vikings policy is they dont allow paid time off for anything other than spouse, kids, parents, parents-in-law, and i believe brothers and sisters.
it stinks that the guy's grandmother (who i understand was his main parental figure growing up) didnt qualify as "immediate" family...THAT's what needs to be changed, expanding the policy to include grandparents.
for instance, when my grandmother died, i was given 1 day of paid leave....the day of the funeral...had i been a pall bearer, they would have given me 3 days. since his grandmother basically raised him, the vikings should have bent the rule a little, especially since he did quite a bit of the arrangements, including arranging for several family members to be able to attend from around the country.
i still think it's a lousy policy, but it's not as bad as people think. i just have this problem with thinking we should make even more special allowances for pro athletes compared to when it happens to people like you or me. if we dont get more than a couple days, why should they?
T_D- from what i heard, he informed them beforehand that he'd be leaving to make the funeral arrangements. they knew he would be leaving, and stood by their policy.
Cuz its crappy but I dont think its a special allowence to attend a funeral. Its not like he was out getting in trouble drinking and going to parties. It just so happened to happen during a game and not the offseason. They need to have some kind of leeway for things like this
I am 22 and I am a huge Broncos and Avalanche fan cant say the Rockies suck anymore and I never got into basketball. I should probably go and change my favorites seems how some of the people where here when I first started blogging in 2005 and they are not here anymore but I just choose not to right now.
See even Emily is shocked
