By Curtis Skinner
NEW YORK Wed Apr 23, 2014 2:22pm EDT
<span id="articleText"><span id="midArticle_start"/> NEW YORK (Reuters) - Five former Buffalo Bills cheerleaders have sued the New York state football team, claiming it violated state wage laws by forcing them to work hundreds of hours without pay, cover their own travel expenses and spend hundreds of dollars on uniforms.
<span id="midArticle_1"/> The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in New York State Supreme Court by the former Buffalo Jills, is the third case this year brought against National Football League teams claiming wage violations. It follows similar suits brought by members of the Oakland Raiderettes and Cincinnati Ben-Gals.
<span id="midArticle_2"/> The five cheerleaders, who worked between 2010 and 2014, said in the complaint that the team and two companies that managed the cheer squad took unlawful deductions from their wages (including the cost of uniforms), forced them to work up to 840 unpaid hours a year - the equivalent of 21 40-hour weeks - at practices and promotional events and made them pay $650 for their uniforms.
<span id="midArticle_3"/> They also said the team levied penalties on cheerleaders who failed the "jiggle test," a visual inspection of a dancer's body fat.
<span id="midArticle_4"/> "So many of us dreamed of being Buffalo Jills since we were little girls. When I made the team, I thought I was starting the best chapter of my life. I soon realized it wasn't a dream come true at all, but a nightmare," said a plaintiff who gave her name as Alyssa U, in a statement.
<span id="midArticle_5"/> The cheerleaders' full names were also omitted from the court filing in an effort to protect them from potential retaliation.
<span id="midArticle_6"/> According to the complaint, Alyssa U was paid $420 for all of her work as a Buffalo Jill during the 2012-2013 football season. That same year, Bills defensive end Mario Williams was paid about $16 million, the eighth-highest average annual salary in the NFL, according to Forbes.
<span id="midArticle_7"/> "We are aware of this lawsuit, and it is our organizational policy not to comment on pending litigation," the team said in a statement.
<span id="midArticle_8"/> A similar suit filed in February by Alexa Brenneman of the Cincinnati Ben-Gals said she was paid only $855 for over 300 hours of work during the 2013 season, or roughly $2.85 an hour. That suit followed a class action filed against California's Oakland Raiders in January, which said the team's cheerleaders were paid roughly $5 an hour.
<span id="midArticle_9"/> Twenty-six of the 32 NFL franchises have official cheerleader squads, each with some two to three dozen members.
<span id="midArticle_10"/> The Jills' suit seeks the unpaid balance of their wages under minimum wage laws, repayment of any deducted wages and court costs.
<span id="midArticle_11"/> The NFL is one of the most successful professional sports leagues in the world, bringing in around $10 billion in revenue a year.
<span id="midArticle_12"/> "(The lawsuit) is trying to leverage the fame and wealth that the Bills have and suggest that they're cheapskates," said Michael LeRoy, a labor law expert at the University of Illinois. "The bottom line is if they can prove that they weren't paid while they were performing, then they have a case."
<span id="midArticle_13"/> (Editing by Scott Malone; Editing by Prudence Crowther)
<span id="midArticle_14"/>
NEW YORK Wed Apr 23, 2014 2:22pm EDT
<span id="articleText"><span id="midArticle_start"/> NEW YORK (Reuters) - Five former Buffalo Bills cheerleaders have sued the New York state football team, claiming it violated state wage laws by forcing them to work hundreds of hours without pay, cover their own travel expenses and spend hundreds of dollars on uniforms.
<span id="midArticle_1"/> The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in New York State Supreme Court by the former Buffalo Jills, is the third case this year brought against National Football League teams claiming wage violations. It follows similar suits brought by members of the Oakland Raiderettes and Cincinnati Ben-Gals.
<span id="midArticle_2"/> The five cheerleaders, who worked between 2010 and 2014, said in the complaint that the team and two companies that managed the cheer squad took unlawful deductions from their wages (including the cost of uniforms), forced them to work up to 840 unpaid hours a year - the equivalent of 21 40-hour weeks - at practices and promotional events and made them pay $650 for their uniforms.
<span id="midArticle_3"/> They also said the team levied penalties on cheerleaders who failed the "jiggle test," a visual inspection of a dancer's body fat.
<span id="midArticle_4"/> "So many of us dreamed of being Buffalo Jills since we were little girls. When I made the team, I thought I was starting the best chapter of my life. I soon realized it wasn't a dream come true at all, but a nightmare," said a plaintiff who gave her name as Alyssa U, in a statement.
<span id="midArticle_5"/> The cheerleaders' full names were also omitted from the court filing in an effort to protect them from potential retaliation.
<span id="midArticle_6"/> According to the complaint, Alyssa U was paid $420 for all of her work as a Buffalo Jill during the 2012-2013 football season. That same year, Bills defensive end Mario Williams was paid about $16 million, the eighth-highest average annual salary in the NFL, according to Forbes.
<span id="midArticle_7"/> "We are aware of this lawsuit, and it is our organizational policy not to comment on pending litigation," the team said in a statement.
<span id="midArticle_8"/> A similar suit filed in February by Alexa Brenneman of the Cincinnati Ben-Gals said she was paid only $855 for over 300 hours of work during the 2013 season, or roughly $2.85 an hour. That suit followed a class action filed against California's Oakland Raiders in January, which said the team's cheerleaders were paid roughly $5 an hour.
<span id="midArticle_9"/> Twenty-six of the 32 NFL franchises have official cheerleader squads, each with some two to three dozen members.
<span id="midArticle_10"/> The Jills' suit seeks the unpaid balance of their wages under minimum wage laws, repayment of any deducted wages and court costs.
<span id="midArticle_11"/> The NFL is one of the most successful professional sports leagues in the world, bringing in around $10 billion in revenue a year.
<span id="midArticle_12"/> "(The lawsuit) is trying to leverage the fame and wealth that the Bills have and suggest that they're cheapskates," said Michael LeRoy, a labor law expert at the University of Illinois. "The bottom line is if they can prove that they weren't paid while they were performing, then they have a case."
<span id="midArticle_13"/> (Editing by Scott Malone; Editing by Prudence Crowther)
<span id="midArticle_14"/>
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