After Months of Failed Legislation, Minor League Players Pass Legal Hurdle
Even with baseball season right around the corner, minor league baseball players continue to push for an imminent class action lawsuit involving wage and hour labor laws in California. The longstanding dispute has already faced prior rejection, but recent outcomes have shown promise in favor of the plaintiffs.
Class Action Lawsuit Proposed Over Violated California Labor Laws
In February 2014, minor league baseball players filed in the state of California a proposed class action wage and hour lawsuit. The plaintiffs complained of players being paid as little as $1,100 a month while working over 50 hours a week. In addition to earning significantly less than minimum wage in direct violation of California labor laws, players alleged that no overtime pay was collected for the additional work hours. By October of 2015, the filed proposal was conditionally certified under the Fair Labor Standards Act with over 2200 players included.
However, last July US magistrate Judge Joseph C Spero of the District Court for the Northern District of California decertified the proposed lawsuit. Judge Spero declined the players’ motion on the grounds that the individual athletes lacked a commonality to warrant a class, this was largely due to a survey of hours worked being highly imperfect.
Tyson Foods v Bouapheo
References were made during these events to a recent Supreme Court decision regarding Tyson Foods v Bouapheo in March of 2016. In this case, employees filed a class action lawsuit for unpaid wages during time spent putting on protective equipment and walking to their workstations. The difficulty of the lawsuit was similar to that brought on by the minor league player’s proposal. Because hours were not consistently tracked by the employer, it was difficult to prove a commonality for class.
The resulting decision was that employees could not be responsible for the employer’s failure to accurately record hours in accordance with California labor laws. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the employees in this recent case, but Judge Spero ruled that minor league players did not meet the same criteria, claiming that the variations were too great.
Rejected and Revised
Despite setbacks, minor league players revised their claim to better suit the needs of the proposal. The original problem was largely due to physical conditioning and training hours during winter months being poorly recorded. Unlike requirements during the regular season and spring training, athletes were not required to use facilities operated by Major League Baseball and, thus, hours were inconsistently tracked. The newly revised lawsuit discluded physical conditioning done over winter months, including only those who participated in the regular season, spring training, and instructional leagues.
Spero Accepts Classwide Claim
Having refiled in September of last year, players were able to successfully warrant their claim as a class. Judge Spero granted a preliminary certification of the wage and hour class action lawsuit for the state of California, acknowledging that the plaintiffs had significantly reduced the variation in athletes’ experiences and recorded hours to meet within California labor laws and file a substantial claim.
Originally the case had included the states of Arizona, Florida, and California. However, differences regarding specific provisions for individual state labor laws in California, compared to Arizona and Florida proved problematic enough that the case was specifically narrowed down for only those who in participated in California before February 7, 2011, without having previously signed a Major League contract.