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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NFL
Players union denounces Burress' suspension, fine
ASSOCIATED PRESS
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The NFL Players Association filed a grievance on Tuesday challenging the suspension and fine given to Plaixlo Burress by the New York Giants after the receiver accidentally shot himself in a nightclub more than a week ago.
The union said that the team violated the collective bargaining agreement last week when it placed Burress on the reserve non-football injury list, suspended him for the final four games of the regular season and fined him an additional week's salary for conduct detrimental to the team.
Placing Burress on the non-football injury list also will keep him out of the playoffs. The Giants (11-2) won the NFC East title on Sunday.
Under the contract that Burress signed in September, the Giants owe him $1 million of his signing bonus on Wednesday. Team spokesman Pat Hanlon had no comment on either the grievance or whether the team would pay the signing bonus.
Union spokesman Carl Francis said the grievance will be heard by an arbitrator after the season ends.
consider another grievance if the Giants withheld the payment.
Francis said the union would
Agent Drew Rosenhaus did not return either an e-mail or a telephone call left by The Associated Press seeking comment.
The union filed another grievance on Burress' behalf earlier this year after the Giants suspended him for a game and fined him two weeks pay for missing a team meeting in September.
The two sides eventually agreed to cut the fine in half, saving Burress about one game's pay more than $200,000.
The latest action against Burress was last Tuesday, just a day after
the 31-year-old was booked and arraigned on charges of criminal possession of a weapon relating to the shooting in New York on Nov. 29.
He pleaded not guilty, posted $100,000 bail and left.
The shooting was the latest run in that Burrell has had with the team since signing as a free agent in 2005. He has admitted to being fined dozens of times for violating team rules. In addition to his suspension in September, he also was fined $45,000 by the league for abusing an official and throwing a ball into the stands in a game with San Francisco on Nov. 19.
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
The New York Giants' Plaxico Burress arrives at the Manhattan Supreme Court for his arraignment in New York last Monday. Many NFL players recoil when they think about what Plaxico Burress is going through — and what still awaits.
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