The view from the Lucas Oil Field press box
The Indianapolis Colts are in the news again and the focus is not on Peyton Manning, but rather the front office. On October 5, 2011, a former part-time hostess on the Colts’ statistics crew filed a civil lawsuit against the team for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Colleen Fenstermaker worked for the Colts from 1998 to 2011 (she alleges she was “wrongfully” terminated in September 2011). During that span, she was a part-time hostess who passed out game day material to employees and guests in the press box. Additionally, she would serve food and drinks or tend to whatever needs were needed to be filled on any particular game day. She worked a minimum eight hour shift for 10 games per season not including play-offs (two preseason and eight home games).
While employed by the Colts, her work and time was never logged-in and the team did not keep any employment files on record. Rather, she was paid $40 in cash ($25 in 1998) per game under the table. At that rate, she was making well below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.
The putative collective action not only alleges there were other similarly situated employees being paid less than minimum wage, but the Colts are continuing this unlawful practice to this day.
The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana (Indianapolis Division), Case No. 11-cv-1346 SEB-MLD.
