Working conditions of cheerleaders bring little cheer

Aside from lashing US companies for relocating overseas by buying Irish firms in tax-clever schemes, US president Barack Obama returned to a favourite subject of his during a speech in Los Angeles this week.

On his three-day swing through California to fundraise for fellow Democrats, Obama told an audience on Thursday that the day marked the fifth anniversary since the national minimum wage was last raised. It still stands at $7.25 (€5.30). This compares with Ireland’s rate of €8.65.

Obama has been pushing Congress to raise the wage to $10.10 a hour since February to try to bridge the ever-widening income inequality gap in the US. He has gone as far as he can by forcing government contractors to pay this level. Since then 13 states along with the district of Columbia have followed suit, raising their rates to $10.10.

Obama doesn’t have to look beyond the state of California for one of the more egregious breaches of an employee’s rights under labour laws.

In January a former cheerleader, or Raiderette, for the Oakland Raiders American football team near San Francisco, identified only as Lacy T, filed a class-action lawsuit against the team, claiming it had violated a raft of Californian working regulations.

$9 minimum wage

She claimed that, during the 2013-2014 football season, the team failed to pay the $9 minimum wage in California or pay overtime or cover expenses and losses incurred in carrying out her duties, and failed to pay her in a timely manner.

In her lawsuit, she said she was paid a flat fee of $125 for each home game the Raiders played, regardless of the hours she worked. It was typically nine hours without meal breaks. She was required to attend at least two three-hour rehearsals a week and more than 300 appearances at corporate, community and charity events without additional pay.

Under Raiderette rules, she could be fined for not bringing the correct pompoms to practice and if she failed to “maintain the highest possible level of physical and athletic condition” – in reality, a weight gain of five pounds – she could be “benched”, losing out on her $125 game-day fee.

Several weeks after Lacy T filed her action, a second former Raiderette, Sarah G, sued the Raiders. These actions spawned further legal challenges. Former cheerleaders with the Buffalo Bills, the Cincinnati Bengals, the New York Jets and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers took similar lawsuits against their teams. Documents filed in the cases have shone a light on hair-raising pay arrangements and demeaning working conditions for the women.

Alexa Brenneman, a former Cincinnati "Ben-Gal" who appeared at 10 home games during the 2013 season, said she was paid an hourly rate of less than $2.85 for more than 300 hours, mostly at appearances outside of games. The Ohio minimum wage was then $7.85 an hour.

In her legal complaint, she said the Cincinnati Ben-Gal rules required her to “weigh in” before two unpaid practices every week and if she was three pounds heavier than her “goal weight” she would have to stay behind for “extra conditioning” or be dropped from paid events.

The rules also state that a Ben-Gal is only allowed to miss four weekly practices during the entire season. “A total of five absences results in termination. Exemption: your wedding,” says the rules.

Five former Buffalo Jills went further, alleging mistreatment by their employers in the lawsuit they filed in the New York state supreme court. They claim they were forced to wear bikinis, be dunked in a tank by participants at golf tournaments and be “auctioned off” as prizes to sit on the laps of winning bidders.

‘Glamour and etiquette rules’

The Buffalo Jills’ “glamour and etiquette rules” handbook, leaked to sports website Dead- spin, advises the cheerleaders on how to tip in restaurants, use a soup spoon and speak to people with disabilities. Under the “lady body maintenance” section, they are told how to wash “intimate area’s [sic]”.

“Do not complain about anything – ever been out with a whiner? It’s exhausting and boring,” the rules advise.

“Do not overeat bread at a formal setting,” the woman are also told.

The lawsuit says one Jill, Maria P, was paid $105 for work during the 2012-2013 season. The team’s highest- paid player, “defensive end” Mario Williams, earns a salary of about $16 million a season.

This month, in a win for the Jills, a New York judge rejected a claim by the team that it was not the cheerleaders’ employer. The Bills had tried to argue that two entertainment companies managed them.

On the other coast, the former Oakland Raiderettes are going to arbitration to decide on thousands of dollars in back pay and legal fees.

In another victory, the team has agreed to pay Raiderettes California’s hourly minimum wage of $9, or about $3,000 for the upcoming football season. Now that is something to cheer.