BILL NUMBER: S8896

SPONSOR: SAVINO
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the labor law, in relation to estab-
lishing the cheerleaders' fair pay act

 
PURPOSE:

To provide cheerleaders employed by a professional sports team with
rights, protections, and benefits.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Amends the labor law by adding new section 219-d to provide cheerleaders
employed by a professional sports team in this state with the same
rights, benefits, and protections conferred to its employees who have
entered into professional sports-services contracts. The definition of
cheerleaders is also provided for the purposes of this section.

 
JUSTIFICATION:
              

In April 2014, six former members of the Buffalo Jills Cheerleading
Squad ("Jills") filed a wage theft lawsuit against the Buffalo Bills and
two for-profit contractors alleging that they were not paid minimum wage
for their work. Since that time the Court has allowed the National Foot-
ball League (NFL) to be added as a defendant and denied their motion to
dismiss based on the NFL Commissioner's approval of contracts providing
that the Jills would not be paid for working Buffalo Bills games.

The labor issue includes but is not limited to payment in a timely
manner, reimbursement for mandatory expenses, fraudulent misclassifica-
tion, penalties for minor infractions with unlawful deductions from
earnings, and failure to adhere to the notice and record keeping
requirements under the New York State Wage Theft Prevention Act.

The lawsuit is one of five that have been filed against National Foot-
ball League teams such as the Oakland Raiders and the Tampa Bay Bucca-
neers. The Jills have been able to proceed with their lawsuit because
the legality of their contract has been brought into question. According
to court documents, the contracts term are illegal, void, and unenforce-
able.

As reports of minimum wage violations continue to make headlines, it is
clear that legal protections must be strengthened to ensure that workers
are not being stripped of their basic rights under state law.  This bill
would address an inequity that fosters worker exploitation and hinders
any progress the state makes in the fight for equal pay.  If enacted,
New York-based professional sports teams utilizing the services of
cheerleaders would provide them with the specified rights and benefits
afforded to its employees under existing employment laws.

 
FISCAL IMPACT TO THE STATE:

To be determined.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2015/2016 Session: S5847 - referred to Labor no significant action

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have
become a law.