House and Senate panels Wednesday backed proposals to exempt minor-league baseball players from Florida’s minimum-wage law.
The proposals (HB 917 and SB 624) would incorporate into the state’s minimum-wage law a carve-out for minor-league players in the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
The House Regulatory Reform & Economic Development Subcommittee and the Senate Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee gave approval Wednesday.
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House sponsor Brad Yeager, R-New Port Richey, said the change would align Florida’s minimum-wage law with the federal law. Senate sponsor Jonathan Martin, R-Fort Myers, said it would ensure spring training and minor-league baseball remain in Florida. He described play in levels below Major League Baseball as a benefit-filled “extended tryout period.”
The federal law 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 work week.
When Congress amended the federal law in 2018, the minor-league minimum was put at $290 a week without overtime eligibility. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.
Florida voters in 2020 backed a constitutional amendment that increases the minimum wage by $1 a year until reaching $15 on Sept. 30, 2026.
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The Florida minimum wage is now $11 an hour and will go to $12 on Sept. 30. Rep. Angie Nixon, a Jacksonville Democrat who voted against the House bill, described minor-league players as “working class folks” who should get paid for the toll that their bodies take from training and games.
“People think of (baseball) just as a pastime. And it’s fun. But for these baseball players, it is their actual job, and they have to work at it. They have to put in time for practice, they have to put in time in the gym,” Nixon said. “They need to be paid for that.” Defending the proposal, Sen. Ed Hooper, R-Clearwater, said, “Most of these players are from Third World countries, where if they remained in their country, their best-case scenario would be to earn $5,000 or $10,000 a year.”
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