Buffalo Bills Cheerleaders suspend operations after lawsuit filed

[davidn3600]

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- Pack up the pom-poms in Buffalo, because the Bills will be playing without the support of their official cheerleaders this year.

Stephanie Mateczun, whose company manages the Buffalo Jills cheerleading squad, said Thursday she has suspended operations through at least the end of the season. The decision was made two days after five former Jills filed a lawsuit complaining they worked hundreds of hours for free, and were subjected to groping and sexual comments.

The civil action was filed in state Supreme Court and seeks unspecified back pay and legal fees. It names Mateczun's company, Stejon Productions Corp., the Bills, and the Jills' former manager, Citadel Communications Co., as defendants. Stejon took over managing the cheerleaders in 2011.

Mateczun is in the process of hiring legal representation, and declined further comment.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/buffalo-bills-cheerleaders-halt-season-202235251--nfl.html

[Coventina]

1. Um, I realize I'm not that into sports, but, isn't the football season over?

[riqster]

2. The next one. Planning ahead.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

3. I don't usually bet on football, but ...

... I'd bet this is resolved long before next season starts.

And the resolution will be "business as usual".

[BlueStreak]

4. It seems like an odd complaint coming from women who stood in line to be exhibitionists

I'm not saying that groping should be part of the job description, but it is a little hard to take seriously a person complaining about sexual comments when she chose to put her body on full display every Sunday wearing the most revealing of outfits.

Talk about sending mixed messages. "I'm going to show 95% of my breasts to you while I am jumping up and down in hot pants, and I don't want to hear any comments of a sexual nature. Is that understood?"

Uh, no. I don't think we understand.

As far as the pay, I'm pretty sure they understood this was a volunteer job when they took it -- like being n a book club. Why would they now expect to be paid retroactively? That wasn't the deal. I think they should be paid, but if they agreed to do it for free, they have no complaint as far as I;m concerned.