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From Pom Poms to the Courtroom: Pt. 5, Tampa Bay Edition


Another month, another lawsuit filed by an N.F.L. cheerleader complaining of violations of minimum wage laws by N.F.L. teams.  

It all started with a Raiders cheerleader in January who filed suit complaining that she was paid around $5 an hour for her work during the season, well below minimum wage (Oakland Raiders Cheerleader Lawsuit).  Inspired by the Raiders lawsuit, a Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader filed a similar suit in early February complaining of wage and hour violations by the team on the grounds that the cheerleaders were only paid $2.85 an hour (Cincinnati Bengals Cheerleader Lawsuit).  In March, a lawsuit was filed by former members of the Buffalo Bills cheerleading group, complaining of wage and hour violations by the team (Buffalo Bills Cheerleader Lawsuit).  Not to be outdone, a New York Jets cheerleader filed suit against the team at the start of this month and complained that she was only paid about $3.77 an hour (New York Jets Cheerleader Lawsuit).* 

*Note that with all of these cheerleader lawsuits, it is claimed that the teams pay them a flat amount for each game/the entire season.  When you take that amount and divide it by the number of hours the cheerleaders work at each home game, hours spent at mandatory practices, cheer clinics, and other team related events over the course of a season, that is how the cheerleaders allege they were paid below minimum wage. 


Now, we have a new lawsuit filed by a Tampa Bay Buccaneers cheerleader this week, also complaining of wage and hour violations by the team.  The former cheerleader said she cheered for the team during the 2012-2013 season and earned $100 per game.  However, the complaint alleged that this amounted to less than $2 an hour when factoring in unpaid promotional appearances, weekly practices, mandatory cheerleading clinics, and other team related events.  If true, this unpaid time could amount to a Fair Labor Standards Act violation and yet another headache for the N.F.L.


A copy of the complaint filed by the Tampa Bay cheerleader can be found here:  http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/pierre-val-buccaneers-complaint.pdf

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