Roy Tarpley, the seventh overall draft pick in the ’86 NBA draft, filed a lawsuit last month, claiming the NBA and his former team the Dallas Mavericks violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by refusing his petition for reinstatement.
After a career in the NBA that was marred by a history of cocaine and alcohol abuse, Tarpley was banned for good in 1995 for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy.
The ADA protects those with disabilities from discrimination, provided their disability is “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity.” According to the ADA website, alcoholics and drug addicts (although not those engaged in current use of illegal drugs) are protected by the ADA, provided they are able to perform the essential functions of the job. Tarpley filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in July 2006 against the NBA.
The EEOC ruled that the NBA violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to reinstate Tarpley, 42, who has passed all drug tests taken in the last four years, EEOC District Director Spencer Lewis wrote in a letter of determination dated May 17, 2007. The letter was sent to Tarpley, the Mavericks and league attorneys.
Although when he applied for reinstatement in 2003, Tarpley, then 37, hoped to play again in the league, saying, “I feel like I have unfinished business there,” Tarpley reportedly said. “If I can get another opportunity to play in the league, I am going to hold on for dear life. I miss it so much and I took it for granted before and I will never do that again.”
Now, however, Tarpley acknowledges that he is too old to make a comeback. “Right now it’s about me getting my name back and being able to help someone else who’s struggling with issues,” Tarpley has said.
Tarpley claims in his lawsuit that he “is a qualified individual with a disability within the meaning of the ADA, in that he has a disability in the form of past drug and alcohol abuse, which substantially limits at least one of his major life activities.”
Attorney: League Pushed Him in to a Corner
Tarpley has attempted numerous times to get reinstated in the league following their guidelines of drug and alcohol testing, his attorney Gary Siller, an attorney at Strasburger & Price, LLP in Houston, Texas, told Sports Litigation Alert. “He has done everything the NBA has asked. They wrote him a letter saying he had to complete 52 weeks of consecutive drug/alcohol testing to be reinstated, forcing him to quit the team he was playing with at the time in order to complete the 52 consecutive weeks. He completed it successfully, but the league refused his petitions. He then filed his EEOC claim and the NBA refused to even meet with him. They pushed him into a corner causing him to file this lawsuit.”
