It’s the year of the cheerleader lawsuit.
The Jets have joined the Bengals, Bills and Raiders as teams facing such actions after a member of the team’s Flight Crew filed suit seeking damages for unpaid wages and reimbursement of work-related expenses. NBC Bay Area reports that Krystal C., as the cheerleader is referred to in court documents, claims that the cheerleaders are paid just $3.77 an hour once you account for all of the additional unpaid hours that members of the squad are required to work. She also alleges that their pay, $150 per game and $100 per special event, drops to $1.50 an hour when mandatory expenses like hair and makeup enter into the equation.
“Cheering in that field in that live stadium with thousands of fans and players is an experience you’ll never forget,” Krystal C., who worked for the Jets in 2012, said. “But I started feeling that there is this unfairness. I did all the math, and our paycheck wasn’t summing up.”
The league said last month that it had no comment on the suits against the teams, but that they were following developments. If the number of suits continues to grow, it will be harder for them to avoid commenting about allegations that franchises worth billions of dollars were paying their employees less than legally mandated wage for their services.