Cheerleaders to Gain Under Proposed California Labor Law Bill

Sacramento, CA On the heels of perhaps the greatest spectacle in professional and broadcast sports, the Super Bowl, a California assemblywoman and onetime cheerleader wannabe has authored a bill hoping to improve protections under California labor code for cheerleaders.

“If you look at California labor law, it is clear given what these girls are signing as far as contracts they’re being treated as employees if not compensated as employees,” said California Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, who briefly considered trying out to be a Golden State Warriors cheerleader in college before concluding that the pay wouldn’t cover her expenses.

“Every person you come in contact with - the guy who parks your car, the ticket taker, the guy who sells you the beer, the guy who cleans up after you, the coaches, the trainers, the players - they’re all getting paid for their work, and the only people not getting paid for what they’re doing is the group of women,” Gonzalez said, in comments published in the Sacramento Bee (1/30/15).

At first glance, cheerleading can be viewed as somewhat of a glamorous job. The fans love you, and you can get your mug on TV the odd time. Those lucky enough to earn some face time during the broadcast of Super Bowl XLIX would have been seen by millions. But is the pay worth it?

Gonzalez and others of the same mind don’t think so - and there have been numerous lawsuits attempting to make that very point. Last year, one of several lawsuits filed under California and labor law against the Oakland Raiders by cheerleaders who felt they were underpaid, proved successful. To that end, a Superior Court Judge in Alameda approved a settlement valued at $1.25 million.

And there have been others across the country. Cheerleaders who led the charge at one time for the Buffalo Bills claimed they were underpaid by the team and took the Buffalo Bills franchise to court. Another cheerleader in Ohio sued the Cincinnati Bengals claiming that what she received in compensation from the team amounted to less than minimum wage.

In Oakland, plaintiffs alleged that the team charged them for their own uniforms, hair and makeup, docked them pay for missed rehearsals and held their pay until the end of the season. Plaintiffs alleged that when all was said and done, cheerleaders made less than minimum wage and were not paid for overtime, an affront to California labor employment law, or so it was alleged.

Gonzalez was a collegiate cheerleader at Stanford in her youth. AB 202 would treat cheerleaders as proper employees under the California labor code, which would serve to extend minimum wage and overtime provisions to cheerleaders who work for teams in the state of California.

There are three NFL teams (National Football League) in the state, whose cheerleaders would benefit from the proposed California labor employment law provisions in AB 202.