The National Football League’s attempt to move Minnesota Vikings’ defensive coordinator Brian Flores’ discrimination lawsuit to arbitration, has been denied. The case, now in its third year, must proceed in court.
The ruling was handed down by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Oct. 6.
“Appellants filed a petition for panel rehearing, or, in the alternative, for rehearing en banc. The panel that determined the appeal has considered the request for panel rehearing, and the active members of the Court have considered the request for rehearing en banc. IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition is denied.”
Flores, the Miami Dolphins’ head coach from 2019 to 2021, sued the NFL for discrimination after he was fired in 2022. He also sued three teams, the Miami Dolphins, the Denver Broncos, and the New York Giants, alleging discrimination based on his firing from Miami and in the interview process with Denver and New York.
The NFL said it would prefer to go to arbitration with league commissioner Roger Goodell as the arbiter. Flores and his legal team, not suprisingly, preferred a neutral party to settle the matter.
In March 2023, Judge Valerie Caproni ruled in favor of Flores, calling the NFL’s “long history of systematic discrimination toward Black players, coaches, and managers are incredibly troubling.”
“Although the clear majority of professional football players are Black, only a tiny percentage of coaches are Black,” she wrote in her decision.
The NFL appealed the ruling, but the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan upheld it, deciding that the league’s constitution’s arbitration provision “contractually provides for no independent arbitral forum, no bilateral dispute resolution, and no procedure.”
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