Minor leaguers finally get to take a W. I’m Amy E. Feldman.
Just in time for baseball season, a federal judge approved a one hundred eighty-five million dollar settlement by Major League Baseball. Back in 2014, minor leaguers sued the MLB claiming that they weren’t being paid minimum wage. The MLB didn’t even bother disputing the lousy wages but instead lobbied Congress successfully to have minor leaguers declared seasonal workers, who aren’t protected by federal minimum wage laws.
But if state laws are more protective of employees than the federal law, the state law applies. So past and present players in California, Arizona, and Florida—states that have more protective minimum wage laws—argued that they should be paid for overtime and for spring training and after years of legal wrangling, the MLB handed the win to minor leaguers, who will each get between five and fifteen thousand dollars, nothing like what MLB makes in a season, but at least they did not strike out.
Leave a Reply