Minor League Baseball Class Action Filed

Spring Training is usually a happy time for baseball players as hope springs eternal for success in the upcoming season.  But the life of a minor leaguer can be tough, as evidenced by this class action filed by three minor leaguers challenging the pay structure and lack of negotiations for their contracts.

As background, each major league ballclub is affiliated with several minor league clubs of varying skill levels.  Major league teams acquire players either through the Amateur Draft or sign players as "free agents" without a draft process.  Upon signing, the player receives a modest signing bonus and is paid their salary.  Minor league salaries are nothing like the salaries for major league ballplayers and can be as low as a few thousand dollars for the entire season.

Major League Baseball implemented the Uniform Player Contract (UPC) in 2012 as part of the new collective bargaining agreement with the players' union.  Under the system, the major league team has exclusive rights to the player for seven years, the team can transfer the player to other teams at will, and the player may be terminated without cause.  Players, in contrast, have no freedom to sign with other teams or transfer their contract.  The UPC requires salaries to be paid only during the playoffs, meaning that teams could choose not to pay regular salaries and instead pay a single lump sum during the playoffs.

Minor league players have not unionized like their major league counterparts.  Additionally, like most major sports, Major League Baseball enjoys a unique antitrust exemption reinforced by Supreme Court decisions, so there is no competing league (and probably never will be absent a contrary court decision) for the players to reap the benefits of competition.

The UPC explicitly allows minor leaguers to negotiate their contract, but in reality these negotiations are allegedly sham negotiations according to the class action.  The class action seeks wage increases based on the value of professional services rendered (quantum meruit) and compliance with state and federal wage & hour laws (which would require regular salary payments).