Buffalo Jill fights for fair wage

[northernbillfan]

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-09-10/nfl-cheerleaders-battle-teams-for-minimum-wage

Caitlin Ferrari grew up rooting for the Buffalo Bills. At the dance studio in her hometown of Rochester, N.Y., her instructor was a former Bills cheerleader—a Jill, as the NFL team’s dancers call themselves—and at the end of her freshman year at Niagara University in 2009, Ferrari decided to try out herself. “It just kind of popped into my head,” she says now. “Honestly, I didn’t really think I was even going to make the squad.” After two weeks of auditions and a final interview, she did. Like the rest of the Jills, she was then presented with a contract stating that she wouldn’t be paid—not for games, not for twice-a-week practices, not for mandatory off-field appearances. There would be a chance, she was told, to make $20 an hour at some charity events. Ferrari didn’t think twice.

[black N yellow]

I feel like a woman who is concerned about her dignity and being properly compensated for a job (that's half high-schoolish and half exotic dancer) wouldn't be willing to to be a cheerleader to begin with. What about being a cheerleader screams "legit fair paying job!" anyway?

[SpikedLemonade]

It is ridiculous that a multi-billion dollar organization will not pay cheerleaders on its sidelines at least minimum wage.

[ServoBillieves]

I'm trying to make sense of this... if the one sued for being paid $125 per game... let's just say they worked an 8 hour day. That's $15.62/hour. That's not minimum wage... that's double minimum wage, and I'm near positive that they don't work 8 hour shifts for a 4 hour game.

It's pretty simple... if they don't like the wage, then they don't need to do it, there's plenty of others who would. I couldn't care less that we're Jill-less this season, the fans came for what's being played on the field. Sorry if in lieu of Ray's debacle I may come off as "harsh" or whatever people who don't share my opinion would like to say.

[Buffalogic]

NFL hates women.

[northernbillfan]

Practice, warm ups etc are non paying. They often at least 20-30 hours a week and make the $125. However the Jills don't even gert paid for game day.

I'm trying to make sense of this... if the one sued for being paid $125 per game... let's just say they worked an 8 hour day. That's $15.62/hour. That's not minimum wage... that's double minimum wage, and I'm near positive that they don't work 8 hour shifts for a 4 hour game.

It's pretty simple... if they don't like the wage, then they don't need to do it, there's plenty of others who would. I couldn't care less that we're Jill-less this season, the fans came for what's being played on the field. Sorry if in lieu of Ray's debacle I may come off as "harsh" or whatever people who don't share my opinion would like to say.

[northernbillfan]

Did you even read the article. Sheesh :rolleyes:

I feel like a woman who is concerned about her dignity and being properly compensated for a job (that's half high-schoolish and half exotic dancer) wouldn't be willing to to be a cheerleader to begin with. What about being a cheerleader screams "legit fair paying job!" anyway?

[Homegrown]

Philster is pissed ...

[ServoBillieves]

Practice, warm ups etc are non paying. They often at least 20-30 hours a week and make the $125. However the Jills don't even gert paid for game day.

Ah...

[feldspar]

The NFL (or the Buffalo Bills) needs to pay these women.

Why wouldn't they?

[mercyrule]

They're not employed by the Buffalo Bills. They need to sue their employer.

[Historian]

They have.

And your first premise is for a court to decide.

Precedent favors the Planitiffs.

[mercyrule]

They have.link?

And your first premise is for a court to decide. No, it's pretty cut and dried

[YardRat]

I hope the Pegs bring them back into the fold. If you want something done right, do it yourself.

[northernbillfan]

If they need a union leader I'm their guy...

[justasportsfan]

A lot of the time the cheerleaders have more value than the zebras

[Mace]

It's notable that this was going to be the first year they started getting paid. I loved the Jills btw.

Obviously the sexual harassment was unacceptable, or the perceived thought that it was "part of the job".

Job wise however, I don't get it. It's not nor ever was a career vocation, it was sort of a voluntary have fun type of pursuit no one chooses to feed their family. I don't remember the Cub Scouts paying me for my uniform, or can imagine a renfest paying for my armor if I wanted to enter a combat competition as a knight, or a Civil War re-enactor society paying for my stuff and time to participate in a Gettysburgh celebration.

I'd agree cheerleaders could and should be compensated by a team if they were employees of it and not employed by a contractor, but it seems the contractor finally got to that point and they sued to get in before the bell.

Maybe some day they get a good contractor, or the Bills simply pay them and great, but they jumped into a pool they chose to jump into and could have climbed out of whenever they chose ?

I dunno.

[bleve]

It is ridiculous that a multi-billion dollar organization will not pay cheerleaders on its sidelines at least minimum wage.

How much do the guys (gals) selling hot dogs make?

It's a side dish of the main course, concessions, parking lot attendants, cheerleaders, it's all the side dishes.

I don't neeeed no stinkin' cheeerleeeaders!

[stuckincincy]

From the NFL Zone section 9/4/14:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/are-nfl-cheerleaders-being-exploited-1.2754361

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/24694782/cheerleaders-reach-125-million-settlement-in-lawsuit-against-raiders

[YardRat]

If they don't re-absorb the overview of the Jills, they should bring a couple of local high school squads in for each game and eschew the 'professionals' altogether. Nice tie-in and support for the WNY community.

[stuckincincy]

If they don't re-absorb the overview of the Jills, they should bring a couple of local high school squads in for each game and eschew the 'professionals' altogether. Nice tie-in and support for the WNY community.

Uh - young girls doing splits in front of an NFL crowd? :scratch:

[Meathead]

just install a kitchenette on the sidelines and they can bake cookies for money during the game

[Meathead]

sorry, what was i thinking, it should be a kitchenette surrounded by brass poles. duh

[Historian]

link?
No, it's pretty cut and dried

Wrong.

See: Raiders, Oakland

[mercyrule]

From the NFL Zone section 9/4/14:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/are-nfl-cheerleaders-being-exploited-1.2754361

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/24694782/cheerleaders-reach-125-million-settlement-in-lawsuit-against-raidersThanks, Cinc. Be a doll and point out the part in the articles where it says that someone other than the Raiders are the ones who employ and pay their cheerleaders.

- - - Updated - - -


Wrong.

See: Raiders, Oakland
See the above

[Blondie]

I feel like a woman who is concerned about her dignity and being properly compensated for a job (that's half high-schoolish and half exotic dancer) wouldn't be willing to to be a cheerleader to begin with. What about being a cheerleader screams "legit fair paying job!" anyway?

cuz "playing football" isn't half-schoolish in of itself??

[Blondie]

NFL hates women.

It does and so do you.

[Blondie]

Job wise however, I don't get it. It's not nor ever was a career vocation, it was sort of a voluntary have fun type of pursuit no one chooses to feed their family..

How did football become a "career"

[bdutton]

Ralph is cheap.

Fixed.

[BillsOverDolphins]

meh

[IlluminatusUIUC]

link?

http://www.latimes.com/local/abcarian/la-me-ra-buffalo-bills-cheerleader-lawsuit-20140424-story.html#page=1

These are among the allegations in a wage theft lawsuit (http://www.scribd.com/doc/219686805/Buffalo-Jills-Suit) filed this week in New York Supreme Court by five former Buffalo Bills cheerleaders who say they were exploited by the team, which generates $256 million in annual revenue.
They have named as defendants not just the Bills, but two companies that managed the cheerleading squad, Citadel Communications (which owned the Bills' “official” radio station) and Stejon Productions Corp.



No, it's pretty cut and dried

http://www.latimes.com/local/abcarian/la-me-ra-jills-cheerleaders-wage-theft-20140702-column.html

The wage theft lawsuit (http://www.latimes.com/local/abcarian/la-me-ra-buffalo-bills-cheerleader-lawsuit-20140424-story.html#page=1) filed by five former members of the Buffalo Jills professional cheerleading squad got a little boost this week when a judge refused to toss the case after the Bills claimed they are not the cheerleaders’ employer.<aside class="trb_embed " data-content-id="79063294" data-content-size="small" data-content-type="story" data-content-subtype="story" data-role="socialshare_item imgsize_ratiosizecontainer " data-state=" ">

</aside>Oh you might be, New York Supreme Court Judge Timothy Drury essentially told the team Tuesday. Drury said there was evidence to support the cheerleaders’ claim that they were, in fact, Bills employees, and only in the “nominal employment” of a pair of entertainment companies that run the squad.


The Bills had argued that the team was only involved in its cheerleading squad to guarantee the integrity of the Bills brand. (For that matter, you could say the whole football team exists to maintain brand integrity.)
Anyway, Drury said the Bills’ claim that they have nothing much to do with the cheerleaders was “premature,” noting that one of the cheerleaders, Jaclyn S., had provided an email from her supervisor telling her not just that the Bills own the Jills, but that “they are committed to helping us run an extremely viable business…they are being incredibly supportive and helpful … I will be working much more closely with the Bills.”

[stuckincincy]

Thanks, Cinc. Be a doll and point out the part in the articles where it says that someone other than the Raiders are the ones who employ and pay their cheerleaders.

- - - Updated - - -



I've no idea what the status is in other NFL towns.

Frankly, this whole issue is a sad surprise to me.

If I owned a business blessed with freedom from competition like the NFL is, thanks to their anti-trust status, and folks were willing to act as good will ambassadors, I would do this:

Contract them through a reputable temp agency, such as Manpower. The tax laws more or less tell you shouldn't hire them outright but I agree to pay the hefty mark-up by going through the temp agency.

Pay the temp agency sufficient funds, that after the temp agency gets their cut, the cheerleaders get $ 500 per game appearance. $125 X 4 hours. Contractor to provide clothing. I offer them 300 bucks stipend per cheerleader per season. Clothing is on approval.

Through the temp agency, insist that as a condition of employment any cheerleader agree to to the same code of conduct clauses that players do. No more, no less, no different. Enforced.

Any outside appearances that represent my business are paid net to the cheerleader at $125/hour by the contractor. I pay the contractor's fee. Any outside stuff that uses my business name requires my approval - obvious reasons there...I don't want the contractor and the cheerleaders milking it.

$1,000 Christmas bonus. Contractor must agree to not take a cut, and I issue a 1099 form for that to the cheerleaders for their tax reporting.


How does that sound?

[ServoBillieves]

How did football become a "career"

When they started making more in 1 year than most Americans do in 10.

[IlluminatusUIUC]

How did football become a "career"

How is it not a career?

[ServoBillieves]

I've no idea what the status is in other NFL towns.

Frankly, this whole issue is a sad surprise to me.

If I owned a business blessed with freedom from competition like the NFL is, thanks to their anti-trust status, and folks were willing to act as good will ambassadors, I would do this:

Contract them through a reputable temp agency, such as Manpower. The tax laws more or less tell you shouldn't hire them outright but I agree to pay the hefty mark-up by going through the temp agency.

Pay the temp agency sufficient funds, that after their cut, the cheerleaders get $ 500 per game appearance. $125 X 4 hours.

Through the temp agency, insist that as a condition of employment any cheerleader agree to to the same code of conduct clauses that players do. No more, no less, no different. Enforced.

Any outside appearances that represent my business are paid net to the cheerleader at $125/hour by the contractor. I pay the contractor's fee. Any outside stuff that uses my business name requires my approval - obvious reasons there...I don't want the contractor and the cheerleaders milking it.

$1,000 Christmas bonus. Contractor must agree to not take a cut, and I issue a 1099 form for that to the cheerleaders for their tax reporting.


How does that sound?

Holy crap where were you when I worked for the Panthers?! Oh, I'm sorry... I worked for Preferred Parking, who the Panthers organization hired as a third party so I could make supplemental income on my weekends off by tearing tickets and keeping tailgaters in-line. I had to go to meetings, drive from Pineville to downtown Charlotte, and had OTHER meetings that I was not paid for... I made $10/hr.

Should I sue the Panthers? I fail to see how this is any different than mine, but maybe since I live in a right-to-work state? Or that my contract clearly stated that I was paid for a specific amount of time, regardless of how much I actually worked. Did the Jills not sign contracts?

[IlluminatusUIUC]

Holy crap where were you when I worked for the Panthers?! Oh, I'm sorry... I worked for Preferred Parking, who the Panthers organization hired as a third party so I could make supplemental income on my weekends off by tearing tickets and keeping tailgaters in-line. I had to go to meetings, drive from Pineville to downtown Charlotte, and had OTHER meetings that I was not paid for... I made $10/hr.

Should I sue the Panthers? I fail to see how this is any different than mine, but maybe since I live in a right-to-work state? Or that my contract clearly stated that I was paid for a specific amount of time, regardless of how much I actually worked. Did the Jills not sign contracts?

Just having a contract doesn't necessarily make the practice legal.

[stuckincincy]

Holy crap where were you when I worked for the Panthers?! Oh, I'm sorry... I worked for Preferred Parking, who the Panthers organization hired as a third party so I could make supplemental income on my weekends off by tearing tickets and keeping tailgaters in-line. I had to go to meetings, drive from Pineville to downtown Charlotte, and had OTHER meetings that I was not paid for... I made $10/hr.

Should I sue the Panthers? I fail to see how this is any different than mine, but maybe since I live in a right-to-work state? Or that my contract clearly stated that I was paid for a specific amount of time, regardless of how much I actually worked. Did the Jills not sign contracts?

I don't know if the Jills are organized and certified as a union, and have a contract.

I do feel that my approach could only work in a State that embraced right-to-work. It's an odd, clashing thing that we are dealing with - if there are unions, you do not have a right to offer your efforts to feed yourself and yours unless you submit to their cabal and restrictions. I am of mixed mind about unions - been in them, seen the reasons, the been on the raw end of attacks from them. Including vehicle sabotage that luckily did not kill me and mine. 2 times, actually. Seen good in unions, necessary things, seen bad things.

The NFLPA is not a good union in the traditional sense. They actively restrict membership with roster size, so as to make their membership exclusive and paid highly.most unions like to increase membership. The NFLPA is a medieval guild.

Well - we will solve nothing here, Servo. But if I might get off track and offer up a recommendation from an old crank who grew up in a decidedly different society and in a time when the teaching of and appreciation of history was paramount, in hope that we would not repeat, a time when self-sufficiency was the norm and not at all like these days.

Take this advice: Stock up that larder.

[stuckincincy]

EDIT:

The time restrictions for posting mandated here didn't allow me - again - to fully develop my thoughts or correct my syntax and punctuation.

:tap:

[mercyrule]

EDIT:

The time restrictions for posting mandated here didn't allow me - again - to fully develop my thoughts or correct my syntax and punctuation.

:tap:Dude is completely whacko about that

[Forward_Lateral]

If they need a union leader I'm their guy...

lol

[Meathead]

EDIT:

The time restrictions for posting mandated here didn't allow me - again - to fully develop my thoughts or correct my syntax and punctuation.

:tap:

glad im not the only one who freakin hates that

[Blondie]

When they started making more in 1 year than most Americans do in 10.

So that is how a job becomes a career .. throw money at it??

[Blondie]

How is it not a career?

Really??

So we all aspire to be an NFL football player?

How many Professional Female sports are there in the career world?

[stuckincincy]

glad im not the only one who freakin hates that


I've gotten into the habit of invoking WordPad and pasting to it if a posting or response requires any thought. That saves me the trouble of typing drivel twice.

[Meathead]

thank god it finally arrived

http://oi60.tinypic.com/103anht.jpg