Buffalo Bills cheerleaders sue over pay - squad disbanded

[fskimospy]

Unsure how that relates to the story here, example please?

Obviously there's going to be organizations who abuse their "volunteers," and per this story it seems like some if not all NFL teams fall into this category. My entire point is that Congress and/or states should update laws to provide additional clarity on exactly who does or doesn't classify as an employee vs. a volunteer. Allowing that to be determined via legal lottery on an ad hoc basis is stupid and a complete waste of resources. Sure, this time it's a greedy, deep-pocketed NFL team which is in the dock, but next time it might be your local soup kitchen because some volunteer got their parking validated. DO you really want every single instance like this determined by opportunistic lawyers suing the name of "aha, they were compensated (some token amount) and thus employees and due minimum wage."

It relates here because it is a specific part of the lawsuit being brought by the cheerleaders.

I'm not sure if it would be possible to so explicitly classify the differing types of employment in the US but I'm open to suggestions.

 

[trenchfoot]

Hmmmm....the article says the management of the cheerleaders was handed over to Stejon Productions Corp. So I assume that Stejon was getting paid for the service.

If so, I think it needs to fleshed out just how much Stejon was being paid by the Bills and to what extent Stejon was representing the interests of the cheerleaders and the interests of the Bills organization.

It just seems that Stejon Productions is getting a free ride on this issue when that mgt. company has been playing a key role between the cheerleaders and the Bills all along.

 

[BoberFett]

The fact that you work somewhere so large that you have a department just for accounting just shows that individual contribution doesn't matter and that you are expendable.

What does that have to do with anything? You been drinking?

It doesn't take much of a company at all to have an accounting department. What kind of pissant, unimportant companies have you worked at?

And yes, we're all expendable. There are nearly 7 billion humans on this planet. The world won't stop spinning for any of them.

 

[nehalem256]

Seems like the simplest solution is to charge the cheerleaders $1 to "rent" a spot to cheer. Thus turning the cheerleaders clearly into customers instead of employees.

 

[Newell Steamer]

It's OK, they'll get cheaper Cheerleaders,... wait; what's cheaper than volunteers??

 

[BoberFett]

It's OK, they'll get cheaper Cheerleaders,... wait; what's cheaper than volunteers??

Your mom.

 

[nehalem256]

It's OK, they'll get cheaper Cheerleaders,... wait; what's cheaper than volunteers??

Charging the cheerleaders for the privilege of cheer space at games

 

[werepossum]

Aren't these women actually volunteers? Regardless, they know going in that it doesn't pay squat, they should have quit when they decided the deal stunk. With that said, I don't like anything about pro football, so if the cheerleaders were awarded a few billion each it wouldn't bother me at all. The league would just increase ticket prices a couple hundred each and be flush in one season.

This, exactly.

 

[werepossum]

Hmmmm....the article says the management of the cheerleaders was handed over to Stejon Productions Corp. So I assume that Stejon was getting paid for the service.

If so, I think it needs to fleshed out just how much Stejon was being paid by the Bills and to what extent Stejon was representing the interests of the cheerleaders and the interests of the Bills organization.

It just seems that Stejon Productions is getting a free ride on this issue when that mgt. company has been playing a key role between the cheerleaders and the Bills all along.

I still don't care, but it does seem wrong to pay someone to manage people who perform for free.

 

[glenn1]

I still don't care, but it does seem wrong to pay someone to manage people who perform for free.

There's still logistics and administrative matters which need attending so I can see contracting it out but I'd doubt if the Bills were paying him huge amounts for the service.


Actually just looked it up, appears the company's revenues are around $150,000. Not chump change but not millionaire money either.

http://companies.findthebest.com/l/23060970/Stejon-Productions-Corporation-in-Buffalo-NY

 

[Nebor]

Your mom.

Thank you for that.

 

[zinfamous]

Now the cheerleaders are revolting.

OK, so maybe they aren't the creme of the cheerleading crop, but that's just rude.

 

[Nebor]

OK, so maybe they aren't the creme of the cheerleading crop, but that's just rude.

*rimjob*

 

[zinfamous]

*rimjob*

now, that's just...intriguing? :hmm:

 

[MongGrel]

Hmmmm....the article says the management of the cheerleaders was handed over to Stejon Productions Corp. So I assume that Stejon was getting paid for the service.

If so, I think it needs to fleshed out just how much Stejon was being paid by the Bills and to what extent Stejon was representing the interests of the cheerleaders and the interests of the Bills organization.

It just seems that Stejon Productions is getting a free ride on this issue when that mgt. company has been playing a key role between the cheerleaders and the Bills all along.

I believe the Buccaneers did something similar years ago, there is an Modeling or Production agency they go through nowadays.

 

[Ns1]

I'm flabbergasted that the cheerleaders would be willing to pay to work for free.

 

[Zebo]

I'm flabbergasted that the cheerleaders would be willing to pay to work for free.

Its a good way to land a rich hubby in all the functions they do with big wigs. Good on resume for modeling, advertising gigs, stripping gigs and whatnot. I bet they have no shortage of girls willing to work for free. These ones just decided they wanted more.

 

[Subyman]

Oh well. The cheerleaders have always been a side show. No one goes to the games to see the cheerleaders, they go to see the game. Its not like they are on broadway.

 

[woolfe9998]

Several NFL teams like the Steelers already don't have cheerleaders. You could get rid of them all and I wouldn't care. I also have to say that going to a football game is one of my favorite things, I try to go to at least one a year. I find the sport tremendously exciting.

If you don't like football that's your business, but to say that there would be a problem without cheerleaders is pretty ridiculous. The NFL is unarguably the most popular sport in America and at least for my hometown team (Go Eagles!) the entire season's tickets sell out in minutes after they go on sale. I don't think people are doing it for the cheerleaders, and I'm guessing the team will get by without whatever percentage of people were going for that reason. Maybe it would take 16 minutes to sell out instead of 15.

This. Football is a fantastic sport. Nothing beats the combination of complex and cerebral strategy with raw, bone crunching physicality and athleticism.

They could get rid of all the cheerleaders and they wouldn't lose even 1% in ticket sales.

 

[AViking]

It's 11 minutes of play.

 

[Sonikku]

This. Football is a fantastic sport. Nothing beats the combination of complex and cerebral strategy with raw, bone crunching physicality and athleticism.

They could get rid of all the cheerleaders and they wouldn't lose even 1% in ticket sales.

Then why even have them?

 

[werepossum]

OK, so maybe they aren't the creme of the cheerleading crop, but that's just rude.

LMAO

*rimjob*

Should that perhaps be *rim shot*? ;o

Its a good way to land a rich hubby in all the functions they do with big wigs. Good on resume for modeling, advertising gigs, stripping gigs and whatnot. I bet they have no shortage of girls willing to work for free. These ones just decided they wanted more.

Or maybe these are the ones who could not land rich hubbies or lucrative modeling contracts. The Peter Principle in drag . . .

 

[Darwin333]

IMO the independent contractor classification is there purely to screw them over. It's the same kind of tactic that classifies regular workers as managers so that companies can get out of paying them overtime.

The "they knew what they were signing up for" arguments are indefensible. Same can be said about child labor at the turn of the century in US - those kids should have known what they were signing up for before crying foul about losing a limb at the ripe age of 15. We have labor laws for a reason. Wrongly classifying those cheerleaders as independent contractors is just a way to weasel out of following those laws. Those cheerleaders should be paid at least minimum wage and reimbursed for the uniforms and travel. That is the bare minimum that they should be paid by law. Anything more is up to them to negotiate.

I would be prone to agree with you if the claims weren't so outrageous. No one in their right mind would do that kind of work for an entire year and make only $105 without being fully aware of what they were earning.

Would you work for an entire year, making only $105, and then sue your employer or would you quit long before that? Hell would you work for a month, with the work they are claiming, for less than $20 willingly? $40? $80? Fuck no, if they were suing for a month or twos wages I would understand but not a years.

 

[zanejohnson]

Then why even have them?

lol it kinda seems like that's what they've been trying to say... these bitches just keep showing up rofl..

 

[Fern]

-snip-
Obviously there's going to be organizations who abuse their "volunteers," and per this story it seems like some if not all NFL teams fall into this category. My entire point is that Congress and/or states should update laws to provide additional clarity on exactly who does or doesn't classify as an employee vs. a volunteer. Allowing that to be determined via legal lottery on an ad hoc basis is stupid and a complete waste of resources.

We have an abundance of law defining employee versus independent contractors. IMO, we don't need more laws.

Personally, I wouldn't think cheerleaders would be employees of pro football teams. Why would the management/front office of a team want to carry the necessary personnel to coach/train/manage etc a cheerleader squad?

I would think it outsourced like concessions.

Fern