Minimum Wage Lawsuit by Minor League Baseball Players May Not Proceed as a Class

Minor League Baseball players recently have sued Major League Baseball in a minimum wage lawsuit claiming that they aren’t receiving the equivalent of minimum wage when they are in season.

However, the courts have halted the action by allowing Major League Baseball to appeal to the Ninth Circuit regarding whether or not the minimum wage lawsuit can move forward as a class action. This could delay this process for a long time, perhaps over a year.

Major League Baseball requested an interlocutory appeal to the judge’s initial decision in this minimum wage lawsuit to let the Minor League players move forward as a group. United States Chief Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero granted this appeal as well as granting Major League Baseball’s request to put the case on hold.

The defendants believe that the judge’s decision was founded on a false theory. He had originally based his decision on a “continuous workday” idea which meant that all of the players’ daily activities did not need to be examined to see whether or not what they were doing constituted as “work.”

Nathaniel Grow, a legal studies professor at the University of Georgia, has followed this minimum wage lawsuit very closely. He tells Law360 that, assuming the appeal is accepted, “given the state of the Ninth Circuit’s docket, if the circuit court doesn’t expedite the appeal, it could easily take a year and a half or longer just to get an appellate ruling on the class certification issue. So instead of looking at a possible trial later this year, you’re probably into 2019, maybe even 2020 before this goes to trial.”

However, the judge recently stated that the question about the players’ activities during the day needs more discussion before the minimum wage lawsuit can move forward. The judge also believes that if the case is not halted, it could result in significant harm to the defendants.

The players believe that this appeal should hold no water because the players all had to sign the same uniform contract. Because of this, according to this minimum wage lawsuit, all the players’ situations are comparable and their claims should move forward together as a class action.

The agreed class definition covers California league players who signed a Minor League uniform player contract as early as February 2010.

This minimum wage lawsuit states that during the season, Minor League Baseball players work more than 50 hours a week but make as little as $1,100 per month. The players allege this constitutes unfair pay and that players do not make the equivalent of minimum wage for time worked.

This Minimum Wage Lawsuit 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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