The notice is to inform Class Members that the Court has preliminarily approved a proposed settlement of the case and to give information to Class Members about their legal rights under the settlement. If you received a Notice by email and/or mail, you have been identified as a potential class member in this case and may be eligible to receive money from the settlement.

The Court has scheduled a hearing on whether to finally approve the settlement on February 17, 2023 at 9:30 a.m. Pacific Time. The hearing will be conducted remotely via video conference using the Court’s procedures for conducting such hearings. The date of the hearing may change without further notice to the class, so check the settlement website or the Court’s Public Access to Court Electronic Records (“PACER”) website to confirm the date. The Court's website is here.

In this lawsuit, current and former minor league baseball players sued Major League Baseball (or “MLB”) and the MLB Clubs claiming they failed to pay minor league players minimum wage and overtime pay in violation of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and state wage-and-hour laws in California, Arizona and Florida. The lawsuit also brought claims under other state laws, and sought civil penalties under California’s Private Attorneys General Act of 2004, California Labor Code § 2698 et seq. (“PAGA”).

The lawsuit is brought by the following “Named Plaintiffs”:  Omar Aguilar, Craig Bennigson, Daniel Britt, Matthew Daly, Leonard Davis, Aaron Dott, Grant Duff, Matthew Frevert, Lauren Gagnier, Jonathan Gaston, Nicholas Giarraputo, Brandon Henderson, Bryan Henry, Mitchell Hilligoss, Ryan Hutson, Witer Jimenez, Kyle Johnson, Jake Kahaulelio, Ryan Khoury, Ryan Kiel, Matthew Lawson, Michael Liberto, Barret Loux, Bradley McAtee, Aaron Meade, Justin Murray, Jeffrey Nadeau, Joseph Newby, Brett Newsome, Kyle Nicholson, Oliver Odle, Roberto Ortiz, Tim Pahuta, Dustin Pease, Brandon Pinckney, David Quinowksi, Gaspar Santiago, Cody Sedlock, Aaron Senne, Leslie Smith, Bradley Stone, Mark Wagner, Kris Watts, Joel Weeks, and Kyle Woodruff. All of these Named Plaintiffs are also Class Representatives except Omar Aguilar, Leonard Davis, Witer Jimenez, Bradley McAtee, and Roberto Ortiz.

The MLB Clubs means all 30 of the Major League Baseball Clubs, including Kansas City Royals Baseball Club, LLC; Marlins Teamco LLC; San Francisco Baseball Associates LLC; Angels Baseball LP; St. Louis Cardinals, LLC; Colorado Rockies Baseball Club, Ltd.; The Baseball Club of Seattle, LLLP; The Cincinnati Reds, LLC; Houston Baseball Partners LLC; Athletics Investment Group LLC; Rogers Blue Jays Baseball Partnership; Padres, L.P.; San Diego Padres Baseball Club, L.P.; Minnesota Twins, LLC; Detroit Tigers, Inc.; Los Angeles Dodgers LLC; Los Angeles Dodgers Holding Company LLC; Sterling Mets, L.P.; AZPB L.P.; Pittsburgh Associates, L.P.; New York Yankees Partnership; Rangers Baseball Express, LLC; Rangers Baseball, LLC; Chicago Cubs Baseball Club, LLC; Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club, Inc.; Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club, L.P.; Atlanta National League Baseball Club, Inc. c/k/a Atlanta National League Baseball Club, LLC; Boston Red Sox Baseball Club L.P.; Baltimore Orioles, L.P.; Baltimore Orioles, Inc.; Chicago White Sox, Ltd.; Cleveland Indians Baseball Co., Inc. c/k/a Cleveland Guardians Baseball Co.; Cleveland Indians Baseball Co., L.P. c/k/a Cleveland Guardians Baseball Company, LLC; The Phillies; Tampa Bay Rays Baseball Ltd.; and Washington Nationals Baseball Club, LLC.

MLB and the MLB Clubs deny all claims in the lawsuit. The parties have agreed to settle the case at this time to avoid the uncertainty and cost of trial and any potential appeal.

The judge in the case is the Honorable Joseph C. Spero. He is the Chief Magistrate Judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

This case was filed as a class action. The Court certified classes under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 (“Rule 23”) and an FLSA collective in this case. You likely already received a notice about the pendency of this case in late 2015 (concerning the FLSA collective) and/or early 2021 (concerning the Rule 23 classes). This is a new notice alerting you to a proposed settlement in the case and notifying you of your rights.

If you previously opted out of (excluded yourself from) the Damages classes (defined below) or opted into the FLSA collective, your previous election remains unchanged. 

In a class action lawsuit, one or more people or businesses called class representatives (i.e., the Plaintiffs) sue on behalf of others who have similar claims, all of whom together are a “class.” Individual class members do not have to file a lawsuit to participate in the class action, or be bound by the judgment in the class action. One court resolves the issues for everyone in the class, except for those who exclude themselves from the class.

There are several types of Rule 23 class actions, two of which are relevant here. Rule 23(b)(3) classes involve claims for money damages (“Damages class”). The “class definition” identifies who is included in the class. Rule 23(b)(2) classes involve claims for injunctive or declaratory relief (not money damages) (“Injunctive Relief class”).

Class members do not have to do anything to be included in the Damages class. Potential class members who do not wish to be included in the Damages class must affirmatively “opt out” by requesting that the court exclude them. Any person included in the class definition who does not opt out of a Damages class will be bound by any judgment or settlement entered in the case.

In contrast, class members typically do not have the right to opt out of an Injunctive Relief class.

In cases involving FLSA claims, the court can certify what is known as a “collective action.” A collective action is very similar to a class action described in FAQ 3. The chief difference between the two is that, unlike Damages class members, persons are not automatically included in an FLSA collective. Instead, persons who want to be included in an FLSA collective and be bound by any settlement or judgment in the case must affirmatively “opt in” by giving written consent to the court.

In this case, the Court certified an FLSA collective in 2015, and persons were given the right to opt in then. If you did not already submit an opt-in request, you are not a member of the FLSA collective.

This case involves two types of Rule 23 classes and the FLSA collective defined as follows:

• Rule 23 (b)(3) Damages class: All persons who, while signed to a Minor League Uniform Player Contract, participated in the California League for at least seven days on or after February 7, 2010 through August 26, 2022, participated in spring training, instructional leagues, or extended spring training in Florida on or after February 7, 2009 through August 26, 2022, or participated in spring training, instructional leagues, or extended spring training in Arizona on or after February 7, 2011 through August 26, 2022. Provided, however, that participation in the activities set forth above must have occurred prior to that person’s signing a Major League Uniform Player Contract.
• Rule 23(b)(2) Injunctive Relief class: Any person who is or will in the future be signed to a Minor League Uniform Player Contract and participates in spring training, extended spring training, the championship season, or instructional leagues in Florida or Arizona.
• FLSA collective: All persons who, while signed to a Minor League Uniform Player Contract, participated in the California League, or in spring training, extended spring training, or instructional leagues on or after February 7, 2011, and had not signed a Major League Uniform Player Contract before then, and previously filed a timely consent to join (“opted into”) the case.  

You may be a member of one or more of the classes. You do not need to take any action to become a class/collective member if you meet any of the definitions above.

We have identified the persons in the Damages and Injunctive Relief classes from defendants’ records, and the FLSA collective consists of those persons who previously opted into it.

The Court appointed the law firms Korein Tillery, LLC and Pearson, Simon & Warshaw, LLP as class counsel to represent class members. Contact information for the lead attorneys working on the case from these firms is listed below:

If you want to be represented by your own lawyer, you are free to hire one at your own expense.

A summary of the monetary and non-monetary benefits the proposed settlement provides to class members follows.

Monetary benefits

Defendants have agreed to pay a total of One Hundred and Eighty-Five Million Dollars ($185,000,000.00) to settle the case (the “maximum settlement amount”). If you participate in the settlement, you will receive a share of this money based on estimates of the hours you participated in minor league baseball. Each class member’s “settlement payment” will be determined as summarized below.

First, an expert statistician will deduct the following amounts from the maximum settlement amount: (i) any court-awarded attorneys’ fees (which will be no more than 30% of the maximum settlement amount) and costs (estimated to be no more than $5.5 million); (ii) any court-awarded incentive awards for the class representatives/named plaintiffs (which will not exceed $637,500.00); (iii) the fees and expenses for settlement administration (estimated to be approximately $450,000); and (iv) the $1,736,400 allocated to California’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency for the PAGA penalty.

The amount remaining after these deductions will be the “net settlement fund.” Each class member’s settlement payment will consist of his proportional share of the net settlement fund.

To calculate each class member’s proportional share, the statistician will use defendants’ records to determine the work periods that the class member participated in during the relevant years. Eligible work periods include: (1) spring training, extended spring training, and instructional league from either 2009 to 2022 in Florida, or 2011 to 2022 in Arizona; (2) the California League, from 2010 to 2022, and (3) championship seasons outside the California League, from the start of the statute of limitations for the state in which the class member’s minor league team is located to 2022.

The work periods we have determined that you participated in are shown on Page 1 of the notice you received.

The statistician will use estimates of the hours minor league players allegedly worked in any given workweek during the relevant work periods. The statistician arrived at these estimates after an extensive analysis of various records and a survey conducted of minor league players.

The statistician will then, for each class member, determine the amount each class member allegedly should have been paid by multiplying the total hours estimated to be allegedly worked in the eligible work periods by the applicable state minimum wage rate. The statistician will use the minimum wage rate in effect at the time for the state in which the class member’s minor league team is located. A 50% reduction will be applied to any damages derived from alleged work performed during championship seasons outside the California League to reflect the relative weakness of these claims.

Each class member’s “individual damages” will be the difference between the amount he allegedly should have been paid (as calculated above) and what he was actually paid according to MLB and MLB Clubs’ records. Any liquidated damages available under Arizona, Florida, and California law will be taken into account when calculating a person’s individual damages, as will any statutory penalties under Arizona and California law.

$2,315,200 of the maximum settlement amount has been designated as the recovery of civil penalties under PAGA. The law requires that 75% of this amount be paid to the California Labor & Workforce Development Agency. The other 25% (the “PAGA payment”) will be paid pro rata to any class members who participated in the California League on or after January 30, 2013 for seven consecutive days through August 26, 2022 (the “Aggrieved Employees”).

The statistician will add up each participating class member’s “individual damages” to get the aggregate total for all participating class members. Each class member’s proportional share will be calculated by dividing the aggregate total by the class member’s individual damages. That number will then be multiplied by the net settlement amount to calculate the class member’s individual settlement payment.

You are able to obtain an estimate of your individual settlement payment on the Settlement Payment Estimate page. The estimate will represent the gross amount you will receive if the Court approves the settlement, assuming the following: (1) all of the potential deductions from the maximum settlement amount set forth above are approved by the Court; (2) no potential class member requests exclusion from the settlement; and (3) there is no change to the work periods originally identified for each class member. The estimate will not guarantee any specific recovery. The final amount you receive may be different than the estimate.

Be aware that part of your settlement payment has been characterized as “back wages” and is subject to mandatory withholding for federal, state and local payroll taxes. The net amount of your settlement payment will depend on how much we are required to withhold for taxes, as well as other mandatory deductions that might apply like garnishments, tax liens and child support. Members of the FLSA collective may be responsible for taxes on the portion of attorneys’ fees attributable to the FLSA collective. We are not tax advisors. If you have questions regarding any issues relating to taxes, please check with your tax professional.

Non-monetary benefits

In addition to the monetary benefits, the settlement provides an important benefit for current and future players. Specifically, MLB will rescind the part of the player contract that prevents MLB Clubs from paying wages to players outside the championship season. MLB will also send a memorandum to all MLB Clubs, advising them of the change to the contract, and advising each Club that it must compensate minor league players in compliance with wage-and-hour laws in effect in Arizona and Florida during spring training, extended spring training, instructional leagues and the championship season in those states, including any minimum wage laws that apply.

In order to receive the monetary benefits, participating Damages class members and FLSA collective members must give the Released Parties (defined below) a release of claims. A release of claims is where one party agrees to give up legal claims (or causes of action) he has against another party in exchange for something of value. A release operates to cut off the releasing party’s ability to sue the released party on the released claims.

The claims and parties you will release if you remain in the classes are described in detail in the settlement agreement. In summary:

The “Released Parties”:  MLB and the MLB Clubs, individually and collectively, and each of their present and former direct and indirect owners, parents, subsidiaries and affiliates, and each of their present and former officers, directors, employees, partners, shareholders and agents, and any other successors, assigns, or legal representatives.

The “Released Claims”:  All Named Plaintiffs, Class Representatives, and Rule 23(b)(3) damages class members who do not timely submit a valid Request for Exclusion, consistent with the terms set forth in the settlement agreement, will release the Released Parties from any and all claims pled, or which could have been pled, in the Second Consolidated Amended Complaint (the “SCAC”) arising out of and/or based on the facts alleged in the SCAC, whether known or unknown, for any wage-and-hour claims based on the performance of services pursuant to a Minor League Uniform Player Contract.  This release includes claims for wages, penalties, interest, attorneys’ fees, restitution, and/or costs, and including, without limitation, claims for: unpaid minimum wages, unpaid overtime, failure to provide meal periods or unpaid meal period premiums, failure to provide rest periods or unpaid rest period premiums, untimely final wages, untimely wages during employment, non-compliant itemized wage statements, failure to maintain required payroll records, and unreimbursed business expenses under any state, territory, or local wage-and hour-law and/or common law on behalf of the Named Plaintiffs, Class Representatives, and Participating Class Members.  In addition, the FLSA collective members will release the Released Parties from any and all claims pled or which could have been pled in the SCAC arising out of and/or based on the facts alleged in the SCAC, whether known or unknown, for any services rendered pursuant to a Minor League Uniform Player Contract, under the FLSA.  The Rule 23(b)(2) Injunctive Relief class members will release the Released Parties from any wage-and-hour claims for injunctive and/or declaratory relief which were pled, or could have been pled, in the SCAC arising out of and/or based on the facts alleged in the SCAC, whether known or unknown, for any services rendered pursuant to a Minor League Uniform Player Contract. All releases of claims cover the period from the beginning of time through the date of October 31, 2022.

Class counsel requested an award of attorneys’ fees of 30% of the maximum settlement amount and reimbursement of their litigation costs of approximately 4.65 Million Dollars ($4,650,000). These costs consist primarily of amounts paid for deposition transcripts, travel for depositions and mediation, expert witness fees, plaintiffs’ portion of the mediator’s fee, and the cost of the prior rounds of notices sent to the classes certified for litigation and the FLSA collective. Class counsel’s motion for an award of fees and costs was filed with the Court on November 23, 2022 and included the final amount of fees and costs requested and the supporting law and facts. The motion is posted under the Important Documents page. The Court will determine the actual amounts to award to class counsel for fees and costs after the final approval hearing once it has ensured the amounts are reasonable. The settlement administrator will pay any court-awarded attorneys’ fees and costs directly from the maximum settlement amount.

In addition to any amount they are entitled to receive by participating in the settlement, the 45 Named Plaintiffs who brought this lawsuit asked the Court to approve “incentive awards” for them. Incentive awards are amounts given to individuals who bring a class action to recognize the risk they took in bringing the lawsuit and the effort they put into advancing the interests of the class by doing things like answering written discovery and sitting for depositions. Forty Named Plaintiffs served as Class Representatives and requested incentive awards of $15,000 each. The other five Named Plaintiffs requested incentive awards of $7,500 each. The motion for incentive awards was filed with the Court on November 23, 2022 and is posted under the Important Documents page of this website. The Court will decide the actual amount, if any, of the incentive award to be given to each Named Plaintiff/Class Representative after the final approval hearing.

You have several options: 1) participate in the settlement and receive your share of the net settlement fund; 2) object to the settlement by submitting a written objection; or 3) opt out of the settlement by submitting a request for exclusion. Details about each option and how each option will affect your legal rights are explained below. You can both participate in the settlement and object, but if you opt out of the settlement, you cannot participate in the settlement or object.

Once the settlement approval process and settlement administration process is finalized, Class members will be sent a pro rata portion of the settlement proceeds to their mailing address on file, which was listed in Section 12 of the notice they received.

If no address was listed on your notice, you must provide an address or other information to allow for an electronic payment.

Payments will be made after final approval and after the settlement becomes “effective.” The settlement will become effective after the time for appealing the Court’s decision granting final approval of the settlement has passed or, if an appeal is filed, after all appeals are finally resolved in favor of final approval.

If you do not cash your settlement check within 90 days of receipt, we will consider your share “unclaimed.” If 90 days have passed, you will have 30 days to contact the administrator to request that a check be re-issued. The settlement administrator will use any unclaimed funds to make a second pro rata distribution to those class members who did accept their settlement payments unless class counsel and the settlement administrator conclude the total amount of unclaimed funds is too small to justify a second distribution. If that happens, the unclaimed funds will instead be paid to a court-appointed charity under the doctrine of “cy pres.” Plaintiffs have asked the Court to appoint Legal Aid at Work as the cy pres awardee in this case, and the Court will consider the matter at the final approval hearing.

If the Court grants final approval of the settlement, no amount of money will be returned to defendants under any circumstances. In other words, every penny of the maximum settlement amount will go to class members, their counsel, settlement administration costs, the PAGA penalties and any cy pres awardee.

The deadlines for Class Members to update their mailing addresses, request electronic payments, or dispute their work periods have passed.

The deadline to object to the settlement has passed.

The deadline to exclude yourself from the settlement has passed.

If you timely submitted a request for exclusion from the Damages class, you will not be a member of the Damages class. You will not participate in these proceedings or the settlement. You will not be subject to the release of claims or receive any money from the settlement as a member of the Damages class.

If you previously submitted a valid request for exclusion and still wish to be excluded from the class, you do not need to do anything. All previously submitted requests for exclusion will remain in effect and you will not be subject to the release of claims or receive any money from the settlement.

Class members will be bound by the settlement and the judgment the Court enters in the case. If finally approved, the settlement agreement will have the same force and effect on absent class members as if each of them had signed it personally. This includes any applicable release of claims. Unless you timely request exclusion, the release of claims applies to you regardless of whether you accept payment under the settlement or object.

The Court held a final approval hearing on February 17, 2023 and granted final approval of the settlement on March 29, 2023. Certain class members filed a notice of appeal of the final approval order. Class settlement payments will not be distributed until issues relating to that appeal are resolved.  We are unable to provide an estimate on when the appeal will be resolved or when distribution will occur. This website will be updated when more information becomes available.

You may access the Court docket and any other publicly filed documents in this case, for a fee, through the Court’s PACER system at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov., or by visiting the office of the Clerk of the Court for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Courthouse, between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding Court holidays.

PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT THE COURT OR THE COURT CLERK’S OFFICE TO INQUIRE ABOUT THIS SETTLEMENT OR THE CLAIM PROCESS.

If you have questions about the settlement process, please contact class counsel (contact information in FAQ 6) or the court-appointed settlement administrator, JND Legal Administration:

Email: Info@BaseballPlayerWageCase.com

Phone: 1-888-906-0571

Mailing Address:

Senne v. Office of the Commissioner of Baseball
c/o JND Legal Administration,
P.O. Box 91051
Seattle, WA 98111