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Updated: Bill Introduced to Prevent Minor Leaguers From Earning Minimum Wage


Readers might remember a Fair Labor Standards Act claim brought back in 2014 by several minor leaguers who claimed they were not paid overtime nor minimum wage for their work.  Back in November of last year, the judge in the case granted conditional class certification that would potentially add to the suit any minor leaguer who had played baseball in the minors since 2011.

Things had been relatively quiet on the matter until a week or so ago.  In late June, a bill was introduced in Congress that would add minor leaguers to the list of jobs exempted from the Fair Labor Standards Act.  The bill, known as the "Save America's Pastime Act", was introduced by Representatives Cheri Bustos (Democrat from Illinois) and Brett Guthrie (Republican from Kentucky).  The bill would essentially resolve the pending suit as it would place minor league players in the exempt category of workers that would not be entitled to bring a claim for FLSA wage violations.

After the bill was introduced, an uproar emerged over the potential impact of the bill.  Subsequently, six days after the legislation was introduced, Representative Bustos withdrew her support of the bill she had co-sponsored.  She tweeted that "After hearing from you & learning more in the last 24 hours, I've immediately withdrawn my support from H.R. 5580 [the Save America's Pastime Act]."  Something tells me the strong negative reaction to the bill was too much to ignore...especially given that many Democrats support an increased minimum wage across the board (something that this bill would have prevented, for minor leaguers that is.)

I would not necessarily say that the withdrawal of support by Representative Bustos will kill this bill...however, it is not a good look for one of the co-sponsors to pull out so quickly after having just introduced the bill.  Let's see how this one plays out.


For information on the Save America's Pastime Act:  http://www.bna.com/house-democrat-throws-n57982076539/

For information on Representative Bustos withdrawing her support:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cheri-bustos-withdraws-support-minor-league-minimum-wage_us_57754fa2e4b0bd4b0b13dcab

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