A proposal that would exempt minor league baseball players from the state’s minimum wage is set to be finalized by the Florida House.
The Republican-controlled House on Monday took up a Senate version of the measure (SB 892), which isn’t as broad as a House bill that also would have affected local living-wage ordinances.
House sponsor Brad Yeager, R-New Port Richey, said the Senate bill would incorporate into the state’s minimum-wage law a carve-out for minor-league baseball players in the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
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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 workweek.
When Congress amended the federal law in 2018, the minor-league minimum was put at $290 a week — the equivalent of $7.25 an hour — 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 $1 a year until reaching $15 on Sept. 30, 2026. The Florida minimum wage is now $11 an hour and will go to $12 on Sept. 30. The House could give final approval to the bill as soon as Tuesday.
The Senate passed it last week. It has advanced as minor-league players reached a five-year collective bargaining agreement with Major League Baseball.
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With pay periods now to include the off-season, the deal raised pay for players in Class-A from $11,000 a season to $26,200 or $27,300 depending on the level, Double-A pay from $13,800 to $27,300 and Triple-A pay from $17,500 to $35,800.
A Senate staff analysis estimated about 500 players are tied to minor league teams in Florida.
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