Photo by Joshua Kelly via Pretty Instant

The National Labor Relations Board is investigating a claim challenging the legality of a clause in the standard Major League Lacrosse player contract.

The unfair labor charge, issued by Rich Furlong on behalf of the Atlanta Blaze’s Jason Noble, Jeremy Noble, Graeme Hossack and the Denver Outlaws’ Dillon Ward, centers around a confidentiality clause that prevents players from discussing elements of their contract, like compensation and benefits, with one another. The four players are signed through the 2019 season, and agreed to their contacts, or contract extensions, at various times over the last year.

Furlong, well known in lacrosse circles for his role in negotiating the Canadian Lacrosse Association’s agreement with the NLPTA this summer and his representation of many NLL players, submitted the filing in early November.

“The MLL has a standard player agreement that has a confidentiality clause in it, found in Section 13.5, that in substance prevents employees from speaking to other employees about terms and conditions of employment,” Furlong says. “These types of provisions are wholly illegal. There’s absolutely no question they’re illegal under the National Labor Relations Act.”

When reached for comment last week, MLL Commissioner Sandy Brown acknowledged the complaint and said that the league is cooperating with the investigation.

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While Brown couldn’t speak to what potential outcomes might mean, he said, “Candidly, it’s not something I’m overly concerned about. I believe we have the appropriate counsel handling the matter for us, people who are well-versed in working with the NLRB, so we’ll cooperate with it in whatever shape or form.”

However, if the NLRB indeed rules on behalf of the players, Furlong says he’ll ask for dramatic and potentially far-reaching action.

“The typical remedy in any Labor Board charge is to restore the status quo in its entirety so that the injured employees can, in essence, be where they were before the injury took place,” he says. “Our position is going to be that these individual employment contracts should be nullified promptly and the employees — in this case the players — should be able to sit down and renegotiate agreements where they don’t have these confidentiality clauses preventing them from speaking to one another if they so choose.”

Such a ruling would not be limited to the four players who are part of the charge.

“It’s important to note that if the NLRB agrees with us, and I think they will, that impacts every player in Major League Lacrosse, not just the people who filed the charges,” Furlong says. “Every player who is either thinking about signing a contract or has signed a contract would be impacted by this ruling.”

“If the remedy we urge is adopted by the NLRB, these individuals and any individuals would be free to negotiate with the Premier Lacrosse League or go back and negotiate with the MLL,” Furlong says. “It’d basically free up the employees to negotiate with whomever they choose.”

The NLRB is an independent federal agency tasked to enforce U.S. labor law and specifically deals with issues of unfair labor practices and collective bargaining. Furlong says investigations like this one typically last 30 to 60 days, at which point a regional office (in this case, Denver, Colo., chosen because Ward plays for the Outlaws) would make the determination of whether to move forward to trial. He says that in that instance, the employer (MLL and the clubs) could settle with the NLRB or the charging parties, and that such an action would occur over the span of two months. He adds that “the NLRB is free to formulate any remedy they choose. Under 10C of the National Labor Relations Act, they’re given broad discretion to formulate remedies.”