By Jim Turner 2023 The News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE — Minor league baseball players would be exempt from Florida’s voter-approved minimum wage law under a proposal that has started moving forward in the state Senate.
The Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee voted 8-2 on Monday to approve a measure (SB 892) that would incorporate into the state’s minimum-wage law a carve-out for minor-league baseball players in the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
Bill sponsor Jonathan Martin, R-Fort Myers, equated the time that minor leaguers spend on the field and in training — which often exceeds a 40-hour work week — to an “interview for a job.” Martin recounted his time two decades ago as a clubhouse attendant at the Boston Red Sox’s training complex in Fort Myers and said minor leaguers weren’t envious that he made a higher wage while doing their laundry, vacuuming and preparing meals.
“Some of them had seven-figure contracts that had paid them substantially. Others were there for the opportunity to play baseball for a living and earn a massive income,” Martin said. “Every single person that I know that was not making minimum wage at that time would never have even dreamed of trading places with me.”
The federal act includes several minimum-wage exemptions, such as for baseball players, casual babysitters, some seasonal amusement workers and border patrol agents. The law requires baseball players to receive an in-season weekly salary equal to the minimum wage for a 40-hour...
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