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Baseball unites on domestic violence

As the NFL grappled with the public furor over the Ray Rice knockout-punch videotape last September, MLB and the MLB Players Association began quietly working on a new, comprehensive domestic violence policy, though labor negotiations were not set to begin until 2016.

“We were talking about this generally, but it was really the Ray Rice incident that brought this issue to the forefront for us before collective bargaining,” said Dan Halem, MLB’s chief legal officer.

Both sides wanted a new policy, MLBPA general counsel Dave Prouty said.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
MLBPA general counsel Dave Prouty said the desire for a new policy was mutual. “I can’t remember who called who first,” Prouty said.

The resulting policy, which MLB and the MLBPA announced Aug. 21, includes education and prevention components, provides resources for the care of victims and families, and spells out, in detail, a new system of how allegations will be investigated and how players can appeal any discipline that is handed down.

The program also covers allegations of child abuse and sexual assault.

Katherine Redmond Brown, executive director of the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes, said the MLB program could be used as a model, not just for other sports leagues, but for other nonsports corporations and organizations.

“This is completely different than anything else that is out there,” said Redmond Brown, who has worked with college sports programs and MLB clubs but was not paid to help create the new MLB policy.

The MLB policy is different in that it provides a specific time line in which allegations are investigated, as well as resources for victims, families and the abusers, she said.

Under the new policy, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is given the authority to discipline players for just cause, with the player allowed to appeal any discipline to a three-member arbitration panel consisting of league and union representatives plus a third impartial arbitrator.

When a player is arrested or accused of domestic violence or sexual assault, there is a seven-day period in which he can be put on paid administrative leave while the commissioner’s office investigates the allegations. There is no minimum or maximum penalty for players disciplined under the policy.

“Other than drugs, it’s the only stand-alone policy that we have that addresses a particular type of conduct,” Halem said.

But unlike the drug policies, there is no set number of games for which a player can be suspended for acts of domestic abuse. “On the drug side all we know is that a player tested positive for a performance enhancing substance. There are really no other facts,” Halem said.

Domestic violence “is a little more nuanced than that,” Prouty said, adding that players wanted a policy in which each case is considered on its own set of facts.

“It’s left to the judgment of the commissioner, and we did that after a lot of discussion,” Halem said. “We came to the conclusion that in the area of domestic violence or sexual assault, one size doesn’t fit all.”

Since the policy was announced Aug. 21, some media reports have questioned whether players may have put too much trust in Manfred to determine discipline.

But “it’s not a matter of us trusting Manfred,” Prouty said. “It’s a matter of us knowing that we have an independent arbitrator that we can take the case to if Manfred gets it wrong.”

How other leagues approach domestic violence
The domestic violence policies of other major sports leagues differ from the model that baseball has settled on.

The NFL, in August of last year, enacted a new personal conduct policy that provides for a baseline suspension of six games without pay for violations involving assault, battery, domestic violence, dating violence, child abuse, other forms of family violence, or sexual assault, with consideration given to possible mitigating or aggravating circumstances.
The policy was not collectively bargained with the NFL Players Association. “The Personal Conduct Policy has never been part of the CBA,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello wrote in an email.
The NBA has had provisions regarding commissioner discipline for conduct detrimental to the league, which includes specific language covering domestic violence, since 2005. Incidents are handled on a case-by-case basis.
The NHL and NHLPA in 2013 added a provision to the CBA that allows the commissioner to investigate off-ice conduct detrimental to the NHL and provides for procedures for the investigation and appeal of any discipline. Domestic violence, child abuse and sexual assault are not specifically mentioned.

— Liz Mullen

Prouty noted that players have the right to appeal that paid administrative leave, as well as the ultimate discipline in the case.

Both Prouty and Halem said that the new policy is better than what the league and the players had before, which was a general policy allowing the commissioner to discipline players for just cause for violations of law.

“The issue [of domestic violence] was not addressed in any uniform, cohesive, consistent manner across our sport,” Halem said.

The policy calls for a confidential phone hotline to be set up where players, as well as their partners and family members, can get help aimed at domestic violence prevention. Futures Without Violence and the Center for the Study of Sport in Society gave every major league player a 90-minute education session on domestic abuse during spring training earlier this year.

The program is the result of back-and-forth proposals between the MLB and the union, player involvement, and a vote of the board of player representatives. The union and the league consulted with more than 25 groups with expertise in domestic violence and sexual assault.

The union also engaged Diane Margolin, the widow of the late MLBPA Executive Director Michael Weiner as outside counsel because of her union knowledge and expertise in domestic violence.

“This is a good policy because it respects all the aspects and complexities that make up domestic violence,” she said. “It provides a help line that is available for players, their partners and families. It focuses on education and it will deal with any violations with discipline, and, where appropriate, therapeutic intervention.”

And, says Redmond Brown, though leagues and unions have been at odds over domestic violence policies in other sports, “It is a united front between MLBPA, the players association and MLB.”

Prouty noted that in addition to MLB players, the new policy will be applied equally to all people who work at the MLBPA, at the league office and at the clubs.

“It applies to everybody, including Rob Manfred,” he said. “That was important to the players. It’s the theme that you are not singling out players and treating them differently than you are treating anyone else in baseball.”

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