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Tampa Bay: First it Was the Pom Poms, Now its the Food Vendors


Oh what a rough year for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  First, a former Tampa Bay cheerleader sued the team earlier this year for alleged wage and hour violations for failure to pay minimum wage.  (Tampa Bay Cheerleader Lawsuit).  Then, there have been the actual games this season which have bordered on embarrassing.  Now, there is an issue over the food vendors at the stadium and how they were compensated.  

Late last month, a story broke in Florida about several professional sports teams (along with the Daytona 500 and the Florida state fair) using a local shelter to provide food vendors to work at games and then the food vendors subsequently gave their wages to the shelter in return for free food and a place to live.  

In this instance, New Beginnings is a shelter in Florida that houses many drug and alcohol addicted residents.  The arrangement saw New Beginnings "supply" teams, such as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tampa Bay Rays, and Tampa Bay Lightning, with New Beginnings shelter residents to work games and after the workers had been paid for their work, the money went directly to New Beginnings.  In return for the residents turning over their pay, New Beginnings gave these workers shelter and food.  A report from the Tampa Bay Times found that New Beginnings brought in $932,816 in income last year.   

Getting down to brass tacks, it is not illegal to compensate workers with food and shelter.  However, in order to do so, a company must provide evidence that the value of their compensation equals or exceeds what the workers would earn through federal minimum wage.  This will be an interesting issue to see unfold.  At this time, no lawsuit has been filed, but the Department of Justice has gotten involved and begun to investigate.

UPDATE:  After I wrote the above post, I came across a Deadspin article that stated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have since decided to end its relationship with New Beginnings in regard to using these particular "employees".  That does not necessarily mean that any investigation will stop or impending charges will be halted, however.  This will be one to continue to keep an eye on.


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