Colin Kaepernick’s Grievance
Associate Evan Gibbs’ biweekly column in Above the Law highlights Colin Kaepernick’s recently filed grievance against the NFL. Gibbs provides background on Kaepernick’s situation and weighs in on the grievance, which “alleges a violation of Article 17 (‘Anti-Collusion’) of the CBA which prohibits any team and its employees from colluding to prevent negotiations or employment of a player.” Gibbs writes, “I believe Kaepernick is going to have a tough time in this case. He’s going to need some serious evidence to show actual collusion between the League and/or teams, and the grievance relies only on circumstantial evidence at this point (i.e., he’s statistically a great player, but no one will hire him). I think the respondents have quite a defensible position here because they can cite to very real political and business pressures that weigh against hiring a controversial figure, no matter how good he is.”