Ex-cheerleader sues NFL over low wages
ASSOCIATED PRESS
San Francisco 49ers cheerleaders perform Dec. 28 during the first half of an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals in Santa Clara, Calif. A former 49ers cheerleader filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday alleging NFL executives and team owners are conspiring to suppress wages for cheerleaders.
LOS ANGELES >> A former San Francisco 49ers cheerleader filed a federal lawsuit alleging NFL executives and team owners conspired to suppress wages for cheerleaders.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday by the woman identified only as “Jane Doe” names the league and each football team and seeks class-action status for all NFL cheerleaders, described in court papers as “female athletes.”
The NFL and its owners conspired “with the purpose of reducing market competition among female athletes and thus ensuring female athlete earnings remained far below fair market value,” the suit alleges.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said Wednesday the NFL hadn’t seen the suit and would have no comment.
The suit estimates damages between $100 million and $300 million and demands cheerleaders be paid commensurate with their contributions as “brand ambassadors” for teams.
Cheerleaders received only a flat, per-game fee and weren’t paid for rehearsal time or community outreach events, according to the filing in U.S. District Court in San Francisco just days ahead of the Super Bowl.
In addition, cheerleaders were forbidden from being recruited by other teams and prohibited from being employed by “other professional cheerleading teams, not just within the NFL,” the suit said.
“Jane Doe” was a cheerleader for the 49ers’ “Gold Rush Girls” from July 2013 until February 2014, the filing said.
San Francisco 49ers spokesman Bob Lange said the team doesn’t comment on litigation. San Francisco’s cheerleaders are outsourced to the entertainment firm E2K, which was not named in the suit. An E2K representative declined to comment.
The alleged conspiracy is “a national scandal among billionaire NFL owners,” plaintiffs’ attorney Drexel Bradshaw said in a statement. “The free market and legal systems are supposed to protect women as much as men. Here, they failed by not allowing the women to compete, to cheer on different teams, to work for the highest bidder.”
Last week, a New Jersey court approved a $325,000 settlement between the New York Jets and their cheerleaders over pay. Each of the 52 Jets cheerleaders named in the class-action filing will receive $2,500 for each season they worked in the two-year period covered by the suit.
In 2014, the Oakland Raiders agreed to shell out $1.25 million to settle a lawsuit alleging they failed to pay their cheerleaders minimum wage.
19 responses to “Ex-cheerleader sues NFL over low wages”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Pro sports is modern day mafia. I don’t patronize. Not even on TV.
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/About-20-of-Your-Cable-Bill-is-Sports-You-May-Not-Even-Watch-138466
If this is fact, shame on the NFL and the team owners. Cheapskates.
Now watch the NFL outsource the Cheerleaders to Mexico so they can continue to pay them low wages.
Certain things you cannot outsource. The abs, blond hair and other attirbutes of that women in the picture of the San Francisco cheerleader is not something you can outsource.
“Outsourcing”?! How do you think they got their jobs in the first place?
Fake blond hair color, fake tan, fake t!t$, fake lips, the list goes on. You can take any woman from any race and skin color and make her look like these in 1 hour.
fake fake fake aaahhh the modern standard for today’s women
They should just hire the illegals to do the work locals won’t do!
Why, they have the best opportunity to marry an NFL star. And $2,500 is not peanuts.
Hey, these BIMBOS knew exactly what they were getting into when they were hired or employed by their respective NFL teams and now are suing them….probably this “jane doe” didn’t get recognize and was disappointed that she was not chosen for some modeling, tv, or movie dealls….geez, if this is their only occupation by being a cheerleader, then she is suing to make easy money that she can’t make otherwise…….if i was the judge, this case would be thrown out in a “jiffy.”
Yes, she applied for the “job.” She knew what she would be paid and accepted it. Move on…
I don’t know what these girls got paid nor the terms of their contracts but it seems to me that they had a choice to participate or not so I don’t understand how this suit can be successful. That is unless there’s credible evidence of collusion among the teams to limit pay and benefits.
“female athletes.” ???
LOL Give me a break !!!
Don’t like the pay ?
QUIT.
Many others will gladly take your job.
They should be paid the same as the players!
umm…no
These class action settlements are still cheating the cheerleaders.
49er cheerleaders are almost as big a bunch of losers as their football team.
The “alpha male” stereotype of the football player, coupled with the scantily clad, breast-enhanced and camel-toed cheerleaders, perpetuates the archaic and offensive view of women as nothing more than objects to ogle.
Laughable! They are paid accordingly to their skill level! No mention on what they are presently being paid? High visibility and making contacts/connections are part of the perks of being a NFL cheerleader!