Baseball Investigation Settlement: $185M Payout to Minor Leaguers

The minor league baseball wage lawsuit settlement was a $185 million class action recovery approved in March 2023 in Senne v. Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, resolving claims that Major League Baseball and its clubs paid minor leaguers below minimum wage and denied them overtime in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and several state labor laws.¹² The case, filed in 2014 by three former players, ran more than eight years, survived a whipsaw of class-certification rulings, and settled just before a scheduled seven-week trial.⁴

What the Players Were Paid and What They Claimed

Most minor leaguers earned between $3,000 and $10,000 a year despite working 50 to 60 hours per week during the season.3NBC News. MLB Settles Minor League Players Wage Hour Class Action Suit⁵⁶

The complaint alleged MLB and its clubs violated the FLSA and state laws by failing to pay minimum wage and overtime for all hours worked, including during spring training, extended spring training, and instructional leagues, and by committing timekeeping and recordkeeping violations.¹ Lead counsel Garrett Broshuis, himself a former Giants minor leaguer, argued that a “$9 billion industry” operating year-round could not credibly call its players seasonal workers exempt from standard wage protections.⁶

Who Was Covered by the Settlement

The class covered players who held minor league contracts and participated in qualifying activities in one of three settings:

California League play, at least seven consecutive days between February 7, 2010, and August 26, 2022.
Florida spring training, extended spring training, or instructional leagues between February 7, 2009, and August 26, 2022.
Arizona spring training, extended spring training, or instructional leagues between February 7, 2011, and August 26, 2022.⁷

Players did not need to submit claims to receive payment. Individual amounts were calculated using an objective formula built from the defendants’ own records of each player’s work periods, and the fund was non-reversionary, so unclaimed money did not return to MLB.⁸

How the $185 Million Was Divided

Of the $185 million fund, roughly $120 million went to players, producing the average payment of about $5,000 to $5,500.² Attorneys’ fees ran $55 to $56 million, with roughly $4.65 to $5.5 million in litigation costs, plus settlement administration expenses, incentive payments to class representatives, and a payment to the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency.⁷ Beyond the money, the settlement required MLB to rescind certain employment contract provisions and to comply going forward with wage-and-hour laws.⁸

Final Approval, Objections, and Payout

The parties reached the $185 million deal on July 15, 2022, on the eve of trial.⁹ The court granted preliminary approval on August 26, 2022, and appointed JND Legal Administration as the claims administrator.⁸ On March 29, 2023, U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero issued a 36-page order granting final approval and calling the settlement “fair, reasonable and adequate.”⁵

A group known as the “Marti plaintiffs” objected, arguing the deal shortchanged players who had played championship seasons outside California. Judge Spero overruled the objections as “without merit,” and the Ninth Circuit found the follow-on challenge “so insubstantial” it did not require a full hearing. The objection was withdrawn by July 2023.⁷¹⁰ MLB transferred the $185 million to JND by July 31, 2023, and payments to the roughly 24,000 eligible players were expected by August 14, 2023. MLB completed the payout by early August 2023.¹¹¹

Why the Case Cannot Easily Be Repeated

While Senne was still pending, MLB secured passage of the Save America’s Pastime Act as a provision inside a $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill signed on March 23, 2018. The provision sat on page 1,967 of the 2,232-page bill and passed without debate or amendments.¹²¹³

The law amended the FLSA to exempt minor league players from federal overtime, and it removed the requirement that players be paid for spring training, off-season workouts, or instructional leagues, so long as their contracts provide a weekly salary at least equal to the federal minimum wage for a 40-hour week.¹²¹⁴¹⁵

What Changed for Current Minor Leaguers

The Senne settlement paid for the past. What changed the paycheck going forward was unionization. On September 14, 2022, minor league players were officially recognized as a bargaining unit under the MLB Players Association.¹⁶ On March 29, 2023, the same day Judge Spero approved the settlement, MLB and the players announced their first collective bargaining agreement, a five-year deal that more than doubled minimum salaries at every level:¹⁷

Triple-A: $17,500 to $35,800 annually
Double-A: $13,800 to $30,250
High-A: $11,000 to $27,300
Single-A: $11,000 to $26,200
Complex league: $4,800 to $19,800

The CBA also required teams to provide housing, with private bedrooms for Double-A and Triple-A players starting in 2024, transportation to stadiums at the lower levels, expanded medical rights, full name-image-and-likeness rights, and protections against team contraction for the length of the agreement. Players receive pay from January 2 through the Friday before Thanksgiving, with scheduled annual increases through 2027.¹⁷

Gaps remain. The CBA leaves the Save America’s Pastime Act’s overtime exemption in place. Players currently earn between $20,000 and $37,000 per year, offseason pay is limited to $255 per week, and there is no pay during the dead period between December and January.¹⁸

1
HR Dive. MLB Settlement Minor League Players FLSA Minimum Wage Overtime Claims
2
NBC News. MLB Settles Minor League Players Wage Hour Class Action Suit
3
4
IMS Legal. Senne v. Baseball Commissioner MLB

What the Players Were Paid and What They Claimed
Most minor leaguers earned between $3,000 and $10,000 a year despite working 50 to 60 hours per week during the season.3NBC News. MLB Settles Minor League Players Wage Hour Class Action Suit
5
Top Class Actions. MLB Class Action Over Minor League Wages Settled
6
St. Louis Magazine. Ain’t Got No Money Ball
7
ESPN. Judge OKs $185M Settlement in Minor Leaguers’ Suit vs. MLB
8
ClassAction.org. Senne Preliminary Settlement Approval Order
9
IMS Legal. Senne v. Baseball Commissioner MLB
10
The Athletic. Senne Case Minor Leaguers $185 Million
11
ESPN. MLB Pays $185M to Settle Minor Leaguers Minimum Wage Lawsuit
12
KSKD Law. Minor League Baseball and the Save America’s Pastime Act
13
University of Colorado Law Review. Save America’s Pastime Act Analysis
14
Office of Senator Durbin. Durbin Introduces Fair Ball Act
15
Congress.gov. Fair Ball Act, H.R. 10388
16
Sports Business Journal. Insiders: Labor and Agents
17
ESPN. Minor Leaguers MLB Reach Tentative Deal Historic 1st CBA
18
Sports Litigation Alert. Minor League Baseball Player Compensation Legal and Economic Challenges