An ex-Milwaukee Bucks cheerleader sues the team for alleged low wages
We’ve been through this before. NBA cheerleaders are basically glorified interns, most of them working for wages that seem disproportionate for the billion dollar industry that they act as a major part of. For most of the dancers, once the final financial tallies are totaled, the gig’s main selling point is prestige points and the chance to say that you were, at one time, an NBA cheerleader.
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One former Milwaukee Bucks cheerleader is looking to change this. Lauren Herington sued the team in a Wisconsin court in September, charging that the squad paid her less than half of the state’s minimum wage for her work as a dancer.
While dancing for the Bucks, Ms. Herington said, she spent full days practicing, performing and engaging in mandatory exercise and beauty regimens. The flat fees she received — $65 for games, $30 for practices and $50 for special appearances — translated to an average hourly wage of $5, according to her lawyers. On busier weeks, hourly earnings fell as low as $3, the lawyers said, less than half the $7.25 minimum required by both Wisconsin and federal law.
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In a statement, the Milwaukee Bucks said the team would fight the suit in court.
“The lawsuit presents inaccurate information that creates a false picture of how we operate,” Jake Suski, a spokesman, wrote in an email. “The Bucks value the contributions our dancers make to the team. We treat all of our employees fairly, including our Bucks dancers, and pay them fairly and in compliance with federal and state law.”
Mike Bass, a spokesman for the N.B.A., said: “Team dancers are an important part of the N.B.A. game experience and are valued members of the N.B.A. family. As for all employees, we work with our teams to ensure that they comply with all applicable wage and working condition laws.”
Beyond wages paid, Ms. Herington’s suit takes into account certain expenses that she said the Bucks required her to cover: special cleaning of her uniform, tanning sessions, false eyelashes, regular manicures and hair appointments at Salon Nova and Lash Boutique, where highlights can run more than $100.
We fully realize that comment sections and some of our less enlightened followers might bust out a tiny violin prior to easing back into their role as an Anonymous Internet Tough Guy, but this is an odd issue that seems out of place in modern NBA culture.
I’ll be the first to submit that NBA dancers are a wholly superfluous and probably archaic part of the nightly game package, a needless leftover from a bygone era. If the league wants to continue to employee dance teams, however, they need to get their acts straightened out. These women are expected to adhere to 1980s-styled societal norms of what constitutes “pretty,” spending huge gobs of cash in order to turn into something that David Lee Roth would want to leer at, while pairing that with the sort of athleticism and (expensive) training-derived dance talent needed to be the best at what they do.
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And they, like the players they share a court with, are the best at what they do. And why NBA teams, some of whom own valuations that fly over the $2 billion mark, can’t find a way pay them properly is boggling. Most of these women would be better off with a job serving you overpriced beer from the upper bowl, as opposed to taking the court to dance for 20,000 spectators.
(Remember, these are the same NBA teams that still hand out hundreds of dollars per week to mostly millionaire players for meal per diems, prior to setting them up at a five star hotel on the road. Prior to doing their laundry for them. Prior to outfitting the locker room with meals and amenities. Prior to …)
Plenty of us have been forced to take on a second job while attempting to work a dream gig in a creative realm, as these dancers often have to do. The difference here is that NBA dancers have already made it to the top of their profession, working for teams that print money. They shouldn’t have to act as restaurant servers or retail clerks on their days off from dancing a few feet away from seats that sell for thousands of dollars.
And, as we discussed over the summer while attending to this issue, this “internship” has no future. A dancer’s time in the spotlight is finite. Unlike, say, an intern working as an underpaid writer’s assistant on a television show, or in the world of white collars.
When a culture as outmoded and backdated as the restaurant industry starts to pull ahead of you in regards to how it pays its workers, you know you’re doing something wrong. NBA offices are mostly filled with good and fair people, and it really is time for the league’s individual teams to catch up on this issue.
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops
