Volunteering to work at Major League Baseball’s All-Star FanFest means you shouldn’t expect a paycheck, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
Manhattan federal Judge John Koeltl tossed a class-action lawsuit filed against MLB in August by John Chen of Queens, who alleged he and the other 2,000 volunteers who staffed last July’s All-Star Game FanFest at the Javits Center should be paid for work they did.
Koetl ruled that MLB — a $7 billion-a-year industry — wasn’t required to pay Chen and the other volunteers because FanFest by law is deemed an “amusement or recreational establishment” that’s “exempt” from federal minimum-wage requirements.
Chen was seeking lost wages for the 17 hours he worked at the July 12-16 event publicized as “baseball heaven on Earth.”
The suit also sought a court order to stop MLB from soliciting future work from unpaid volunteers and alleged the league also violated labor laws with similar practices at previous All-Star FanFests.
The decision is not only a home run for MLB, but other sports leagues that rely on fans to help pull off some of its biggest events.
Because of the suit against MLB, the National Football League opted to hire roughly 10,000 part-timers to meet and greet football fans during the week of festivities in New York and New Jersey leading up to the Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium last February. In previous years, the $9 billion-plus money machine used volunteers for the same work.
The FanFest volunteers didn’t receive tickets to July’s All-Star Game at Citi Field — only a shirt, cap, backpack, water bottle, baseball, and a chance to win one pair of tickets through a raffle.
And, as Post columnist Phil Mushnick previously reported, MLB refused to even reimburse them for Javits Center parking.
Meanwhile, adults attending the event — where fan volunteers were directed to give out gift bags and direct attendees to attractions, among other chores — had to fork over $35 to enter while children paid $30. Once inside, prices ranged from $5 for a “small bag” of potato chips to $7.50 for lemonade, the suit says.
Chen’s lawyer, Justin Swartz, said he does not consider the judge’s ruling a “setback,” adding he now plans to take the fight to state court.