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Players who say they are paid starvation wages in a Minor League Baseball salary class action lawsuit successfully urged a federal court to order an injunction that will force the organization to come into compliance with wage and hour laws.
Baltimore Orioles minor league pitcher Cody Sedlock will serve as the lead plaintiff for an already-certified class of players for damages as well as the new class of players who will benefit from the injunction. Illinois native Sedlock was drafted by the Orioles in the first round of the 2016 MLB draft and will represent players who participated in Arizona and Florida where spring training occurs.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero limited the Classes Sedlock, 2016 Big Ten Pitcher of the Year, can represent, cleaving claims based in California labor law.
“To the extent that Sedlock may not seek overtime under Florida law while class members who play in California law are entitled to overtime, the court finds that inclusion of class members whose claims are based on activities performed in California defeats typicality,” Judge Spero wrote in his order. “While Sedlock does not meet the typicality requirement as to claims based on services performed in California, he meets the typicality requirement as to a narrowed (b)(2) class that limits membership to individuals who perform services in Florida and Arizona.”
Further, Judge Spero found that the former Aberdeen IronBird also cannot represent minor leaguers on teams for which he did not play.
“Sedlock seeks to represent class members who played for other franchises, which admittedly did not injure Sedlock,” explains the order. “Under these circumstances, the court concludes that Sedlock cannot satisfy the ‘fairly traceable’ requirement of Article III standing as to the franchise defendants.”
The ruling comes after a 2019 directive from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider an earlier dismissal of Classes from the Minor League Baseball salary class action lawsuit for minor variations in state labor laws.
Former Miami Marlin player Aaron Senne and 44 other Minor League Baseball players filed the class action lawsuit in 2014, claiming that around 6,000 players without a union are only paid $1,100 a month during their five-month regular season. For spring and fall training, the players are allegedly not paid at all, claimed the lawsuit.
The Minor League Baseball salary class action lawsuit seeks to represent several subclasses of players for wage and hour claims based on several different states’ labor laws as well as the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
What do you think of the claims in the Minor League Baseball salary class action? Tell us in the comment section below!
The players are represented by Stephen Tillery, Garrett Broshuis and Jamie Boyer of Korein Tillery LLC and Clifford Pearson, Daniel Warshaw, Bobby Pouya, Thomas Nolan and Benjamin Shiftan of Pearson Simon & Warshaw LLP.
The Minor League Baseball Salary Class Action is Aaron Senne et al. v. Office of the Commissioner of Baseball et al., Case No. 3:14-cv-00608, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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