$185M settlement between MLB and minor league players is reached

Major League Baseball has agreed to pay $185 million to settle a long-running class action filed by minor league players.

"This is likely one of the largest wage and hour settlements in the United States," Daniel L. Warshaw of Pearson Simon & Warshaw, LLP, who helped represent the appellants, said in an interview Friday

"We're pleased that we could resolve this on behalf of their clients," the Sherman Oaks attorney continued.

The settlement is subject to the judge's approval. If approved, the deal would end a legal battle that began in 2014 when professional baseball player Aaron Senne sued MLB for failing to pay minor league players for hours worked during spring training, extended spring training and instructional league.

The complaint also charged that MLB failed to pay minor leaguers minimum and overtime wages during the championship season.

Calling for relief under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the estimated 23,000-member class was initially denied certification by the Northern District Court of California.

In response, the class narrowed its certification request to focus exclusively on the spring training and championship seasons. In 2016, this new iteration of the class won certification.
As the parties prepared to go to court in June 2022, they engaged in mediation efforts overseen by dispute resolution specialist David Geronemus of JAMS.

Approximately $120 million of the settlement will be divided among the appellant class members, while class representatives will also receive $637,500. The remainder will go to counsel fees, costs incurred, administrative costs, a contingency fund and a PAGA payment.

"We are pleased to resolve this 8 1/2 year long litigation," Clifford H. Pearson of Pearson Simon & Warshaw LLP said in an interview. "We look forward to going through the approval process and, ultimately, minor league players getting paid and also having a mechanism to get paid going forward."