After lawyers for the Raiders and their cheerleaders battled for years, cheerleaders finally got the pay owed to them on Wednesday.
About 90 women who worked as cheerleaders received payments of about $6,000 a season for the 2010, 2011 and 2012 seasons and about $2,500 for the 2013 season. The cheerleaders accused the Raiders of violating the law by paying them less than minimum wage in those seasons, and the Raiders agreed to settle the lawsuit.
“Our clients have now been paid the equivalent of minimum wage for all of the hours they worked and have been reimbursed for their out-of-pocket expenses,” attorney Sharon Vinick said, via the San Francisco Chronicle. “It is important to note that paying these women minimum wage doesn’t represent the value that these hard-working women bring to the Game Day Experience,”
After the Raiderettes sued, cheerleaders for several other NFL teams filed similar lawsuits saying they were underpaid by their employers.