Georgia State University College of Law Reading Room Faculty Publications By Year Faculty Publications 11-2015 Gaming the System: The Exemption of Professional Sports Teams From the Fair Labor Standards Act Charlotte S. Alexander Georgia State University College of Law,
[email protected] Nathaniel Grow University of Georgia,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://readingroom.law.gsu.edu/faculty_pub Part of the Benefits nda Compensation Commons, Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics Commons, Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Commons, Labor and Employment Law Commons, Other Legal Studies Commons, and the Sports Studies Commons Recommended Citation Charlotte S. Alexander & Nathaniel Grow, Gaming the System: The Exemption of Professional Sports Teams from the Fair Labor Standards Act, 49 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 123 (2015). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Publications at Reading Room. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications By Year by an authorized administrator of Reading Room. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Gaming the System: The Exemption of Professional Sports Teams from the Fair Labor Standards Act Charlotte S. Alexander†* & Nathaniel Grow** This article examines a little known exemption to the Fair Labor Standards Act relieving seasonal recreational or amusement employers from their obligation to pay the minimum wage and overtime. After evaluating the existing, confused case law surrounding the exemption, we propose a new, simplified framework for applying the provision. We then apply this framework to a recent wave of FLSA lawsuits brought by cheerleaders, minor league baseball players, and stadium workers against professional sports teams.