Troy Williamson docked paycheck to attend grandmother's funeral

[Suigin406]

it's a business decision, but doesn't make it any less stupid for PR reasons and just for some [censored] courtesy...

[TheNoodleMan]

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Childress cited the cases of two players, Minnesota defensive tackle Pat Williams and Indianapolis wide receiver Reggie Wayne, who appeared in games shortly after the deaths of family members.

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Conveniently left out Tony Dungy missing a game after his son's death.

[MicroBob]

Which Vikings strategy is going to get the most and best out of your players? Not just the player who is going through the ordeal but also his teammates who want to feel they are being treated with some amount of dignity and respect:

Vikings Strategy 1:
Dear Troy,
We understand you are going through a difficult time but we do expect you to make it for the game. If you are unable to attend because you are still grieving then we will be forced to dock your pay by 1/16 of the season or $25.6k.

Vikings Strategy 2:

Dear Troy,
We respect your situation and understand that you are a player who has passion for the game and wouldn't want to miss a game if you could help it.
We understand your pain and you have our deepest sympathies.
Take as long as you need for this tragedy in your life and there is no pressure to return to the football field until you feel you are absolutely ready.

[SL__72]

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Who cares if he was docked pay, he makes millions, he can afford it.

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Even if this was true (which it isn't), it's an awful argument.

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???

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I don't know exactly what "???" means, but 1) he isn't being paid millions by the Vikings and 2) I don't see how making X amount of money makes it any more OK to dock pay than if he made X-Y amount of money.

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The second part of your statement I wasn't disagreeing with, just the part about it not being true that he gets paid millions. What gives you that idea? It is way off. Just because his base salary is less then a million doesn't mean his total salary is. For instance, last year his base salary was $350,000 and the Vikings payed him close to $10 million after bonuses, incentives, etc.

[MikeyPatriot]

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The second part of your statement I wasn't disagreeing with, just the part about it not being true that he gets paid millions. What gives you that idea? It is way off. Just because his base salary is less then a million doesn't mean his total salary is. For instance, last year his base salary was $350,000 and the Vikings payed him close to $10 million after bonuses, incentives, etc.

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I was just going with what someone in the thread said. Guess I was wrong, apologies.

[Edge34]

I was talking to my roommate about this earlier.

Granted, missing Troy Williamson doesn't hurt nearly as much considering that the entire Viking team wears #28.

If I were running the league, as any other business, I would have to give each player at least one "personal day" where they could miss a game and still be paid due to family emergency, birth/death, whatever. There is no good reason why these guys should be able to get used up the way they do and have to choose between being at the birth of their children, or in Williamson's case, the funeral of, essentially, his mother.

I do understand the product and its reliance on its stars. I also understand that in this league, there are 16 weekends and playoffs, meaning you're "working" in the sense of game checks, for less than half the year.

In other words, I understand this is a business. Childress is a moron and the more he does to piss off Minnesota, the sooner he's gone. I hope the appeal gets Williamson paid, but I also have to say I respect that he's just going about his business. He basically said he didn't care if they took his checks for the rest of the year, he was going. As well he should.

[gusmahler]

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if my mother dies, almost anybody could take a week off

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If your taking a week off usually you are taking a weeks vacation time or you are not getting paid for that week.

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Every full-time job I've held had a written bereavement leave policy. Each gave 5 days off for immediate family, with no effect on vacation days.

[bernie]

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Shouldn't he get some sort of bereavement pay?

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Maybe his agent should've thought of that when working out the deals of his contract. It's just business.

I'd miss a game for a funeral. Care less if they docked my pay. In fact, I did do that when I was working at one time. I never got paid to go to a funeral.

b

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Was it a close member of your family? I don't think this would be an issue if it was his aunt that he met twice.

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It would still be an issue if he went to a funeral of that aunt and they docked him. It shouldn't be an issue regardless of who it is. If your contract is to play 'x' number of games, and you don't you lose that money for that game. Big whoop, ya move on.

Again, they could put a stipulation in there for these types of circumstance, but didn't. Oh well.

I don't see what the big deal is.

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[bernie]

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Whether the Vikings CAN get away with doing this or not has nothing to do with whether they SHOULD.
It's a classless move to treat your own player that way. It's horrible PR and makes them look really awful to potential free-agents.

They should want their players to feel like they are being treated with class. He hasn't just bothered this particular player or given their own team a bad name.
Think of all this guy's teammates who have talked about this amongst themselves a bit too I would guess. They all feel like their own team is a bunch of tight-wad pricks and many of them are probably angered enough about them docking a player's pay for this that they too end up thinking, "man, if I get the chance I wouldn't mind playing for a team that treats its players fairly."

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Of course, the other side of the 'class and integrity' issue are those players that sign a contract then hold out later on instead of just honoring the contract they signed.

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[anatta]

I'm glad she's dead always getting drunk and beating the crap out of us kids the only reason I went was to dance on her grave.