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SCOTUS Denies Request To Dissolve Lawsuit By MiLB Players

By Cam Adams

October 5, 2020 No comments

The United States Supreme Court denied Major League Baseball’s request to dissolve a six-year-old lawsuit by minor league baseball players, continuing the players’ call for higher pay.

The case of Senne v. Royals, originally filed on behalf of former Kansas City Royals player Aaron Senne, has since included minor league players of past and present who have not been paid for spring training or earned wages below the poverty line. The suit will now return to trial court.

“The Supreme Court’s decision to let the class certification decision stand is great news for minor league players,”  Korein Tillery LLC, the law firm, wrote. “After almost four years on appeal, the players can now return to the trial court to ensure that Major League Baseball and team owners comply with minimum and overtime wage laws, a welcome development for minor leaguers in a very unusual year.”

The salaries of minor league players are fairly low, largely below the federal poverty line of $14,380 for a single-person household in 2019. According to The Athletic, Triple-A players are estimated to earn between $11,825 and $14,860, Double-A players typically earn a bit over $9,350 and Single-A players usually make between $6,380 and $8,400.

Minor league players’ wages are also much lower compared to other professional developmental leagues. The American Hockey League, the NHL’s Triple-A affiliate, pays its players a minimum of $47,500, including compensation for other expenses, according to The Athletic.

“The ultimate goal is pretty simple: to get MLB to comply with the same laws that Walmart and McDonald’s comply with,” Garrett Broshuis, the attorney who filed the lawsuit in 2014, told ESPN. “Whenever they ask players to go to spring training, they should be paying their employees for it. During a season, there’s no reason for players to be making $7,500 or $8,000 a year.”

These shallow wages were reinforced in 2018 after Congress passed the Save America’s Pastime Act which exempted minor league players from minimum wage and maximum hours requirements. According to ESPN, while a player could work 60 hours a week, teams could pay that player minimum wage for a 40-hour workweek.

Minor League Baseball is currently in the middle of a budget cut of sorts as it is cutting 40 minor league teams, including Mets Double-A affiliate Binghamton Rumble Ponies and Rookie league affiliate Kingsport Mets.

The lawsuit will reopen within the next few months.