A volunteer at Major League Baseball’s 2013 All-Star FanFest in New York is suing the organization for unpaid wages.
John Chen, one of about 2,000 volunteers at last month’s event, billed as “the largest interactive baseball theme park in the world,” is being represented by Outten and Golden LLP, which successfully represented two unpaid interns seeking pay for their work on the film “Black Swan,” ABC News reported Friday.
Chen’s lawsuit, which lawyers said they hope to turn into a class action suit, alleges the league violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and New York Labor Law by failing to pay at least minimum wage to volunteers.
“We hope to stop for-profit companies like Major League Baseball from soliciting and receiving free labor,” Chen lawyer Justin Swartz said. “The minimum wage law prohibits for-profit private companies from accepting free volunteer labor.”
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