{"id":55761,"date":"2024-06-12T14:40:52","date_gmt":"2024-06-12T19:40:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=55761"},"modified":"2024-06-12T14:40:52","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T19:40:52","slug":"sean-payton-offers-public-comment-on-randy-gregory-discrimination-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/sean-payton-offers-public-comment-on-randy-gregory-discrimination-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean Payton offers public comment on Randy Gregory discrimination lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Denver Broncos were named last week in a discrimination lawsuit<\/a> in conjunction with the NFL. Former Broncos defender Randy Gregory<\/a><\/strong> filed a lawsuit for discrimination after racking up over $500,000 in fines for violating the league\u2019s policy against certain drug usage. On Tuesday, Denver head coach Sean Payton offered his first public comments on the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cListen, I\u2019m aware of what was written in the lawsuit, but it was nothing I had to deal with directly at all,\u201d Payton said<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s more of a league issue than a Broncos issue. It was nothing that I ever dealt with.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Broncos, though named in the lawsuit, aren\u2019t part of the NFL\u2019s disciplinary process for enforcing drug testing and fines. Gregory, who is now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, received over $500,000 in fines over the last year while he was a Broncos player for taking various medications, including THC. THC, which is legal even for recreational use in the state of Colorado, is still not an approved substance by the league.<\/p>\n

Gregory penalized for violating NFL policy<\/h2>\n

The former Cowboys player and his lawyer, Spencer Kontik, claim the fines by the league amount to discrimination. Gregory attempted to get a special accommodation from the league to take the prescribed medicines, but was denied.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a serious effort by Randy to push the NFL forward on alternative methods for pain management options,\u201d Gregory\u2019s agent, Peter Schaffer, told\u00a0The Denver Post<\/a><\/em>. \u201cIf a doctor prescribes hydrocodone, that\u2019s completely legal and much worse for the player, yet the player doesn\u2019t get suspended or fined. Randy\u2019s not trying to buck the system, but he\u2019s paying $500,000 in fines for something that anybody else in the state of Colorado can do. All we want is reasonable accommodation to allow Randy to treat his disabilities at the direction of his treating physician.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gregory and his attorney filed the lawsuit in Arapahoe County District Court on Wednesday. The\u00a0Denver Post<\/em>\u00a0received a copy of the lawsuit, which claims the THC and another drug, Dronabinol, are prescribed to help the former Broncos star cope with social anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. NFL players are no longer subject to suspensions for positive drug tests for THC, however, the fines still apply.<\/p>\n

NFL denied exemption requests<\/h2>\n

Gregory sought permission from the league to take Dronabinol, a drug use to help patients dealing with nausea and vomiting during cancer treatment, in March of last year, but was denied. He also requested a therapeutic use exception and was denied again in May.<\/p>\n

The former second-round pick\u2019s fines totaled $532,500 for repeated positive THC tests. The lawsuit does not specify how many individual fines the league administered. According to the suit, Gregory\u2019s team claims the league failed to accommodate the player\u2019s diagnosed disabilities, which amounts to discrimination under Colorado law. He initially filed discrimination charges against the league and the Broncos last July.<\/p>\n

While in Denver, Gregory sat out more games (11) than he played (10). In total, he produced 21 tackles and three sacks during his short time with the Broncos before heading to the 49ers.<\/p>\n

The post Sean Payton offers public comment on Randy Gregory discrimination lawsuit<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Denver Broncos were named last week in a discrimination lawsuit in conjunction with the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55761"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55803,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55761\/revisions\/55803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}