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This Just In: From Pom Poms to the Courtroom, Pt. 3: Buffalo Bills Edition


For those of you following the blog, there have been a few cases filed by NFL cheerleaders the past few months complaining of wage and hour violations (see Oakland Raiders Cheerleader lawsuit; Cininncati Bengals Cheerleader lawsuit).  

Yesterday, five former members of the Buffalo Bills cheer leading group have filed a wage and hour claim complaining of the wages they are paid.  The cheerleaders, called the "Buffalo Jills", claim that among other things, they were not paid for their time at games or mandatory public appearances that left them open to "groping and sexual comments."  These plaintiffs also complain about a "Jiggle Test" in which their bodies were scrutinized while they did jumping jacks.  

At this point, we have had three complaints filed against teams (the Raiders, Bengals, and Bills) this year in regard to pay for cheerleaders.   Something tells me this will not be the last NFL cheerleader lawsuit we see...

I have attached a link to the complaint filed by the plaintiffs.  Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a copy of the contract the Buffalo Jills signed.  Apparently, the Jills agreed that they were independent contractors, rather than employees.  I will continue to follow up on this to see if I can find anything.

A copy of the complaint filed by the cheerleaders can be found here:  http://download.gannett.edgesuite.net/wgrz/news/buffalojillslawsuit.pdf

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