We here at The Coles Firm P.C. hope you have not missed us too much in our brief absence these last few weeks. We're back now and while we were gone, we came up with a little something new for the blog. In addition to hearing from you this year on the blog, we decided to add a new regular post feature to the blog - sports. No, we won't be commenting on games and tournaments, and players (although ask any of us about that stuff and we'll most likely keep you busy for a while). Instead, we plan to talk about the intersection of sports and employment law. With that said, we have a great start to this new feature.
We recently read an article about a "charity clause" in Manny Ramirez' (of baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers) $45 million, two-year contract back in March 2009. What is this "charity clause?" Well, apparently there was a clause in Ramirez' contract that called for Ramirez to make a $1 million donation to the Dodgers Dream Foundation. The article went on to say that not only did other Dodgers players have "charity clauses" in their contracts, but so did Major League Baseball players from several different teams.
The idea became so prevalent (more than 100 players had such a "charity clause" in their contracts), that the MLB Players Association filed a grievance against Major League Baseball and claimed players should not be required to make donations to anyone.
Contracts have long been simply a matter of negotiation between the parties involved. In this case, Manny Ramirez negotiated for $45 million to play for the Dodgers and the Dodgers in turn negotiated for a $1 million charitable donation. Is it wrong of the Dodgers essentially to require Manny Ramirez to donate?
How many of you work for an employer and have had the following situation arise? Your boss (or boss' assistant on behalf of the boss) comes to you and tells you his or her child is selling some item as a fundraiser for school or a sports team or an after-school activity. Do you feel you have an option to tell your boss you are not interested in paying $10 for a bucket of cookie dough? What about during the holidays when someone starts collecting donations for Toys for Tots and everyone in the office donates? Do you feel you have the choice not to bring in a toy?
Don't get us wrong, we are all for charity. Charitable contributions provide for people who might not otherwise be able to provide for themselves. But how are these everyday work situations any different (albeit on a lesser scale) than requiring a major league sports player to donate a portion of his or her millions of dollars to charity? One might even argue these sports players are in a better situation than the general working public - the sports players can simply go negotiate with another team that does not require a charitable donation.
There is nothing illegal about what the Dodgers chose to do in Manny Ramirez' case. In fact, through their actions, the Dodgers actually help the less fortunate. But does that make it right? What would you do if your employer wanted to insert a "charity clause" in your employment contract?
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