Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Should Minor League Baseball Players Get Minimum Wages and Overtime?

Aaron Senne, a former minor league ballplayer, filed a wage-and-hour lawsuit in 2014.
His suit alleges that some minor leaguers are not paid proper minimum wage or overtime, with some earning as little as $1,100 per month during the season despite spending more than 50 hours working each week. That’s rookie league pay. (The math in the scenario works out to $5.50 per hour.) 
The base pay at AAA—a very skill high level— is $2,150 per month.
You might think the Commissioner would argue as follows: (1) You guys love playing this game! (2) We can find many others to take your place. (3) Some of you will make a lot of money. (4) You have real jobs in the off-season.
The Commissioner has not made those arguments. That's because none of those arguments are legally relevant.
Instead, the Commissioner has argued that the employment contracts of players are so varied that individualized trials must occur for each one (recently, there were 2,200 players who “opted-in” to the lawsuit).
The substantive issue is whether minor leaguers qualify under categories for “exempt” employees (as in exempt from minimum wage and overtime). They likely do not meet the test for exemption, meaning they are owed extra pay. They are not “artistic” employees nor “professional” employees, as the Fair Labor Standards Act defines these exemptions to minimum wage laws.
For now, however, the latest court ruling favors baseball (the magistrate ruled in favor of baseball's 2,200 trials argument!) though it has been appealed. Minor league plaintiffs are behind in the count.

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