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From Pom Poms to the Courtroom: Houston Texans Edition


Over the past few years, N.F.L. (and N.B.A.) cheerleaders have filed a wide range of Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") and discrimination claims against their teams and the leagues.  For those needing a refresher, we have had several teams involved in these suits including the Raiders, Bengals, Bills, Jets, Buccaneers, Raiders (again), Bucks, and Saints.  While some cases have resulted in settlements, others have continued on without a resolution as of yet.  The sticking point for many of these cases is that they involve mandatory arbitration provisions...which would take the cases out of the court system and prevent class actions.

Earlier this week, the Houston Texans joined the list of teams that have been confronted with FLSA and discrimination claims.  Yesterday, an amended lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas which seeks class action status.  The suit claimed that while the cheerleaders were paid $7.25/hour (the hourly minimum wage rate in Texas), it is alleged that the cheerleaders were not paid for "off the clock" and overtime work over 40 hours in a week.  This "off the clock" work included time spent traveling to and from events, monitoring work e-mail to respond to work matters, and preparing for gameday events.  The suit also claimed that cheerleaders were subject to harassment by their coach with some cheerleaders being told they had "belly jelly", were a "chunky cheek", and other related comments about their appearance.

While the Texans have not filed a formal answer yet, a team spokeswoman said that the Texans were proud of its cheerleader program and that hundreds of women had enjoyed their participation in it.  (Yes, that is far from an answer or response to the suit...but that is what we have to go on so far).

At this point, it is still far too early to say how this will play out.  With that being said, given that N.F.L. cheerleader lawsuits have tapered out (somewhat) over the past few years, will this lawsuit encourage others to follow suit?


For a copy of the lawsuit:  https://www.scribd.com/document/379890573/Texans-cheerleaders-lawsuit#from_embed
 

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