New York, NY – The Erie County Supreme Court recently ruled that the agreement signed by the Buffalo Jills (“Jills”) is unenforceable because of their misclassification as “independent contractors,” when they were in fact employees. In response to the news, Assemblywoman Nily Rozic issued the following statement:

“Last week’s ruling brings the Buffalo Jills steps closer to resolving their wage theft issue. I am hopeful that this decision will be followed by a long-awaited return to the field,” said Rozic. “Since 2014, the Jills have been standing up for their rights and speaking out against the system of abuses that stem from a misclassification of their employment status that, denying them workplace protections granted to employees across New York State. The Erie County Supreme Court ruling makes it clear that as employees, the Jills are to be owed payments after years of working for less than minimum wage, or sometimes receiving no pay at all.”

Back in 2014, the Jills filed a wage theft lawsuit against the Buffalo Bills alleging that they were not paid minimum wage for their work. The class action complaint outlined a stunning system of abuses against cheerleaders including sub-minimum pay, reimbursement for mandatory expenses, fraudulent misclassification, penalties for minor infractions with unlawful deductions from earnings, and failure to adhere to the notice and record keeping requirements under the New York State Wage Theft Prevention Act.

The lawsuit is one of five that have been filed against National Football League teams such as the Cincinnati Bengals, New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Oakland Raiders. As of July 2014, the New York State Supreme Court decided that the control exercised over the Jills “supports the conclusion that they are not independent contractors but employees.”

In September 2015, Rozic introduced legislation to codify into law that cheerleaders are employees, not independent contractors, and entitled to all protections thereof. The bill mirrors legislation introduced in California that was enacted in July 2015.