Another NFL Cheerleader Sues Team Over Pathetic Pay

A former NFL cheerleader has filed suit against the New York Jets, alleging that the team paid her and her fellow cheerleaders a criminally low amount of money. As it stands, cheerleaders from four NFL teams — the Jets, the Bengals, the Raiders, and the Bills — have filed suit against their respective teams, each claiming varying combinations of shitty wages and inhumane treatment. Why is the NFL a “nonprofit organization” again?

The woman behind the suit is known only as Krystal C, a 25-year-old who during the 2012-2013 season says she was paid $150 per game plus $100 for outside appearances but was not compensated for required thrice-weekly practices, nor was she allowed to expense the cost of straightening her curly hair, which cost her $45 per week. She wasn’t paid for the team’s for-profit cheerleading camps, either. Her attorney estimates that, overall, she was paid $3.77 per hour. This kind of professional sports franchise owner-enabling bullshit is how world class asshole like Donald Sterling and Dan Snyder get even more filthy fucking rich.

According to the LA Times, Krystal is in a better position to win her suit than cheerleaders from other teams for a few reasons.

[…] the New York Jets explicitly consider their cheerleaders “employees,” not independent contractors like other cheerleaders, which, as LeRoy said, puts Krystal C. in a stronger position for these claims.

Also, the [Jets cheerleaders’] contract says any disputes will be adjudicated by the courts. By contrast, the Oakland Raiders have argued that the former Raiderettes do not have the right to sue the team because their contract includes a binding arbitration clause. The arbitrator would be NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who, by the way, can hardly be considered impartial, as he is employed by the teams’ owners, who pay him $44 million per year.

In addition, the LA Times is calling the four lawsuits part of a “cheerleader revolt” which I think is just fantastic. Long live the cheerleader revolt. Long may they reign.

It’s 2014, and the NFL still has a team called the “Redskins,” and it’s still trying to get away with treating its lower-wage employees like garbage, all the while denying that the sport that makes its owners billions is leading to serious injury and death for many of its players by hiding behind a bullshit “breast cancer awareness” smokescreen. Oh, there’s also all the rape. If the NFL were a person, I sure as shit wouldn’t want to hang out with him.