Reese Kaplan -- Minor League Wage Lawsuit Will Continue

To many of you the name Aaron Senne may not be familiar.  He was a member of the Florida Marlins organization from 2010 through 2013 before leaving professional baseball.  He was an adept first baseman and pitcher while in college.  He initially was drafted in 2008 while still in college in the 32nd round by the Twins, but he decided he wanted to finish his college career.  In 2010 he was selected in the 10th round to be a hitter, playing first base.  His total minor league career stats indicated he was someone who likely had potential with a 580 AB slate during which he hit .279 with 11 HRs and 82 RBIs.  While those numbers don't rival what Pete Alonso did prior to ascending to the majors, they certainly were encouraging enough that you'd think he would have potential.

 

Unfortunately, he required Tommy John Surgery after his first year in the minors which caused him to miss his second year entirely.  He rebounded nicely in year three but more injuries crept up and force his very early retirement from the game after just 15 ABs in his third professional season on the field.  

 

One issue that Senne noticed right away we've covered here in the past.  Minor league ballplayers are paid a flat rate, not hourly pay.  Consequently, if you add up the time spent exercising, training, doing pre-game routines and actually playing, the hourly compensation falls well below minimum wage.  

 

Senne joined up with two other minor leaguers, Michael Liberto and Oliver Odie to file a lawsuit against baseball for violating the national laws on minimum wage.  Now understand that baseball manipulated Congress into an exemption from normal business rules on what they pay and how much effort they require from their prospects.  Consequently, this lawsuit was not going to be a walk in the park.

 

This week the Supreme Court of the United States of American evaluated MLB's motion to dismiss this lawsuit out of hand.  It's been hanging over their heads for the past six years.  Surprisingly, the Justices did not abide by the major league viewpoint and it certainly looks as if Senne and company will have their day in court after all.  

 

Minimum wage laws declare that anyone working in the USA should be paid at least $14,380.  Unless you are a player already on the 40-man roster, AAA players earn well below that number, starting at just $11,825.  AA players don't fare quite as well, falling $2000 under that threshhold and A players can find themselves another $3000 in the hole compared to their AA and AAA brethren.  

 

To show you the value of the MLB exemption, take a look at the equivalent of AAA for minor league hockey.  These players receive over $47,000 as well as expenses.  Read that again -- $47K vs. $11K for baseball.  It's no wonder that minor league players are united in asking for fairer compensation.

 

The issue for the minor league players is best evidenced by their own attorney stating that they only want the same rules to apply to baseball that must be followed by national business chains like McDonald's and Walmart.  However, the 2018 Save America's Pastime Act reinforced the exemption for baseball which can push players to put in 60 hours or more per week and only be paid as if they worked for 40.  

 

While the suit is going back to the lower level courts to be played out and judged, there is no firm answer as to what will happen.  The courts could rule in favor MLB or could demand better compensation in the future (and retroactively) for minor leaguers.  The timing couldn't be worse for the folks filing suit with over 40 teams being eliminated from the minors in order to reduce further the expenses team owners must absorb and increase their profits.  What the impact will be to the game with less preparatory time is not yet known, but with rules favoring the team owners across the board, all we can do is hope that the minor leaguers are addressed with as much respect as is paid the person who mops the toilets in another business.