Bills Lose on the Field and in Court

The Buffalo Bills are two-time losers.

They’re out of the playoffs and they’re one of the last teams in the league, along with the Jets (who, ironically, missed the playoffs by losing to the Bills), that have yet to settle a wage theft lawsuit with their cheerleaders.

In 2014, I wrote about the Buffalo Jills, who allege that they were illegally misclassified as independent contractors, rather than employees entitled to all the benefits under the law, such as a wage.

While the Oakland Raiders, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Cincinnati Bengals have all paid back-wages to their cheerleaders, the Jets and Bills (franchises that, according to Forbes, are worth $2.6 billion and $1.4 billion, respectively) refuse. Forget about the Fight for $15, the Jills are fighting for basic compensation. But the Bills don’t see it that way, digging in last week after the Jills scored a major victory to win class-action status.

“The Buffalo Bills respectfully disagree with the Court’s decision,” the team said in a statement. “It remains our position that this case is being prosecuted by a very small number of former cheerleaders whose allegations do not accurately reflect the sentiment of all cheerleaders. We intend to appeal today’s ruling and we will continue to vigorously defend the allegations brought against us and we remain confident in our position in this matter.”

Put aside the fact that Terry and Kim Pegula paid $1.4 billion for the Bills but won’t scrape together the pocket change to pay the Jills minimum wage. The suggestion here is that because the team used to exploit other women without complaint, these women should shut up. Indeed, historically women have taken a lot of abuse, until someone stood up and said “No.”

That’s how things change.