Phillips: Alcohol Treatment Caused Dispute : Chargers: Nose tackle says voluntary admittance to Betty Ford Center prompted team not to pay him his full salary.

Charger nose tackle Joe Phillips contended Tuesday that his voluntary admittance to the Betty Ford Center for alcohol dependency prompted the team’s decision to pay him only half his salary this season.

“In my mind, if I hadn’t been honest with Bobby Beathard about this is where I had been,” Phillips said, “I would not be in this situation.”

At a press conference, Phillips said that upon the recommendation of team physician Dr. Lee Rice, he entered the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage two days after being badly beaten outside a Mission Beach Restaurant on Sept. 26.

Phillips, operating under the belief that he would receive his full $315,000 salary for 1990, said he told Beathard, the team’s general manager, on Oct. 24th that he had been undergoing treatment. He paid approximately $9,000 of his own money for the 28-day treatment at the Betty Ford Center.

He learned subsequently that his paychecks had been stopped retroactive to Oct. 22. He was advised recently that he would receive only 50% of his total salary.

Phillips also charged that the contract of Rice would not be renewed by the Chargers because of his ties to the nose tackle.

“It is my feeling that this a reaction to Lee Rice’s professionalism and good faith in helping me,” Phillips said.

Rice could not be reached for comment.

Beathard said the club might make a change in team physicians but that it has nothing to do with Phillips or the reputation or work of Rice. He said he’s still not sure if the club is responsible for the cost of Phillips’ treatment at the Betty Ford Center.

But he said Phillips’ visit there had no influence on the team’s financial decision.

Beathard said under the provisions of the 1982 Collective Bargaining Agreement, the Chargers are not obligated to pay Phillips anything for a non-football injury (NFI).

“We didn’t think it would be fair to say we are not paying you anything,” Beathard said. “I don’t think it would have been fair to the club to pay him 100%. So we went halfway. We don’t get the services of Joe, but we are willing to pay him half of his salary.”

Coach Dan Henning said, “If everybody on this team was injured away from the game, you can’t expect the owner to get 45 new players and pay 45 old ones.

“Now there are special considerations, but as far as the letter of the law, they’re just like the rest of us. If you get injured on the job, you’re protected. If you fall down your stairs at home, you have homeowners’ insurance or you don’t have it and live with the rest.”

There has been speculation that Phillips’ off-the-field activities forced the Chargers to rethink their position. When Phillips was injured, Beathard announced immediately that Phillips “would be paid.”

Beathard never said Phillips would receive his full salary, but he also made no effort to correct the prevailing opinion that Phillips “would be paid” all his money. Phillips said he wasn’t aware of that possibility until Nov. 9, when he went into the front office to pick up his check.

By then, it had become apparent that Phillips had been drinking the evening he was attacked. A police officer testified at a preliminary hearing for the three men accused of beating Phillips, that Phillips blood-alcohol count was “about a 0.23” that night.

Under state law, one is considered legally under the influence of alcohol with a blood-alcohol count of 0.08 or more.

Beathard was asked if such information prejudiced the decision on how much to pay Phillips.

“I think we took everything into consideration in this,” Beathard said. “That’s all I’ll say on that.”

The Chargers and Phillips remain locked in a salary dispute that threatens to end his playing relationship with the team. Although Phillips has received medical clearance to resume practicing, he has retained legal counsel and stayed away from San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

“When you talk about returning to the team and being happy, you’re talking about two different issues,” Phillips said. “In the event of my return to the Chargers, I will go out and perform my duties as a professional would. In regards to being happy, maybe that would have to become a secondary concern.”

Phillips detailed his concerns in a chronology that was passed out to the media. He said team trainer Keoki Kamau informed him and his wife the day after he was beaten that he would be paid 100% of his salary.

Beathard said he doesn’t discuss “those things with Keoki” and that the trainer is not empowered to make financial decisions.

Phillips said the Chargers not only reneged on their promise of full pay but demanded that he sign a new contract for next season before being paid again this year.

“I felt like I was being blackmailed,” Phillips said. “I wasn’t even going to be allowed to go back to work unless I signed a contract extension. I felt totally cornered.

“I needed to go out and make a living. I had worked out seven weeks without seeing a dime from the Chargers.”

Phillips said he was even willing to set aside his differences with the club and return to practice as long as the team started to pay him. But he said he got no satisfaction, because the Chargers demanded he sign a new contract.

Beathard, however, said he never received such an offer from Phillips. He said he was told by Phillips’ attorneys that Phillips would not practice as long as he remained on NFI. He said he was repeatedly told Phillips would not return to work without a guarantee of full pay.

“They wouldn’t go on the field unless we agreed to pay them $315,000,” Beathard said. “I said that’s not going to happen. I said, ‘So what you’re telling me, if we don’t pay you full pay for this season, then you want to be set free (released)?’ They said, ‘That’s what we want.’ I said, ‘We are not going to do it.’ ”

Beathard said he told Phillips’ attorneys the player would have to remain on NFI for a couple of days of workouts before being moved to the practice squad and receiving full pay. He said being medically cleared and being game-ready were two different things, and the Chargers wanted to see that Phillips would be able to play football.

The Chargers also asked Phillips to sign a waiver that would have provided broad protection to the Chargers with regard to pre-existing injuries suffered in the beating. But such a waiver falls under the provisions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which Phillips’ attorneys said they do not recognize.

Phillips’ history of contractual difficulties also added to the confusion. Twice in the past three years, he has missed training camp while negotiating a new deal, and at the end of this season, he will become a free agent again. The Chargers wanted a new contract for 1991 and beyond before allowing Phillips to return to the field.

With both sides appearing to be at an impasse, the dispute might be headed to the courts. Beathard said Phillips will be protected in Plan B free agency, and the team will continue to try to sign him for 1991. But he said there is a limit to the team’s patience.

“We hope a lawsuit doesn’t have to be filed,” said John Adler, one of Phillips’ attorneys. “Until all payments that were to be made have been missed through the end of the season, we don’t know how complete the breach (of contract) is going to be.”

Beathard said the Chargers owe Phillips $28,000, which will be paid when all players are paid at the end of the season.

Phillips said he was forced to drop out of law school because of his injuries and that he will continue treatment for alcohol dependency.

Both Henning and Beathard expressed support for Phillips’ decision to seek treatment.

“I think that’s a good thing for Joe,” Henning said. “I think Joe was having some personal problems during the summer. And we talked to him about some of them, tried to help him out with them.

“But I’m not one that believes that Joe has a major problem in that area. But I’m not a doctor. What Joe determined to do there, if his advice and feelings were that he needed to do that, I think that was a good thing for him to do.”

Phillips said he sought help on the urging of his family. He said the Chargers never suggested or discussed such action with him.

“My father, my wife and Dr. Rice discussed the possible existence of a genetic predisposition to alcohol dependency,” he said. “People are born predisposed. (Rice) said, ‘We think under these circumstances you look like a type A that may have to deal with this issue.’ Now it’s a question, do you want to chance it? Do you want to take it 10 years down the road and a have a full-blown problem or do you want to cut it off now and do what you can now?

“You say, hey, whatever it takes. The idea was it could be confidential completely under the new league rules.”

But last week, there was speculation in The National that suggested off-the-field problems were behind Phillips’ pay dispute. Concern that his trip to the Betty Ford Center might come out in embarrassing fashion, he said, prompted him to go public now.

His attorneys said they will send a letter of objection to NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, asking that an inquiry be made into the break in confidentiality the league’s drug program guarantees.