New York – Today the New York Jets (“Jets”) became the 4th team in the NFL to reach a settlement over a wage theft lawsuit brought by their cheerleaders. Today’s agreement leaves the Buffalo Bills as the last team in litigation.

“Today marks a victory for the Jets Cheerleaders who made it their fight to speak out against workplace injustice. With 4 teams having reached a settlement, I am hopeful that today’s decision will encourage the Buffalo Bills to do right by their cheerleaders and put an end to the series of lawsuits that have further brought the NFL’s respect for women into question.”

The lawsuit filed against the Jets in 2014 is 1 of 5 that have been brought against teams alleging minimum wage violations. According to news reports the team has agreed to pay nearly $324,000 to settle, with the payout being anywhere between $2,559 to $5,913 each.

Background

Last year, together with lawmakers from 8 states, and California Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez and NY State Senator Diane Savino, Rozic co-authored an open letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell calling on him to set decent pay standards for cheerleaders as League policy.

Rozic and Savino introduced legislation to codify into law that cheerleaders are employees, not independent contractors, and entitled to all the protections thereof. Their bill mirrors Gonzalez’s legislation, which was signed into law.