At a time when the Raiders are lagging behind other teams on the field, they may have blazed a new trail for off-field legal pursuits. Last month, some Raiderettes sued the team, alleging underpayment for their services.
Via CincyJungle.com, a Bengals cheerleader has now filed a class-action lawsuit against the team, alleging multiple wage violations.
The complaint, filed by Alexa Brenneman, claims that the cheerleaders receive at most $90 per game. The Bengals cheerleaders allegedly aren’t paid for practice time, mandatory non-game appearances, and other activities.
She estimates that, based on the total time she spent working in 2013, her hourly rate of pay was $2.85, $5 less than the minimum wage in Ohio.
It’ll be interesting to see how many other teams take advantage of their in-house cheerleading squads, allegedly or otherwise. And it’s amazing that NFL cheerleaders have tolerated being so poorly compensated, given the billions of dollars that the league generates.
