At least 80 caddies filed a $50 million lawsuit against the PGA Tour last week. The lawsuit alleges the PGA Tour requires caddies to wear bibs furnished with corporate sponsors’ logos. The caddies claim this not only reduces or eliminates their ability to have endorsement deals themselves, but that they receive no compensation for the advertisement.
The caddies have valued the bibs at $50 million a year.
The complaint also claims the Tour treats the caddies as “second class participants”. The example given was the 2013 Barclays, when the tournament wouldn’t allow the caddies’ wives and children into a shelter during a rain delay. The shelter was designated specifically for the caddies and the document claims there was plenty of room in the shelter.
Separately, the caddies’ lawyers will seek an injunction against the PGA Tour from retaliation due to the lawsuit. The legal team claims threats have been made to any caddies pushing the issue to revoke their credentials.
Caddies do not work for the PGA Tour, they are contractors employed by a touring pro. Under PGA rules, the caddies are allowed to obtain their own endorsement deals, such as the collective endorsement available to them from Nature Valley (you might have noticed several caddies with NV hats).
As independent contractors, the suit alleges they are denied health care coverage and retirement benefits.
Another interesting aspect of this case, as Dennis Dodd points out, the lawsuit was filed in the same court as Ed O’Bannon’s class action lawsuit against the NCAA which sued for unauthorized use of players’ likeness (and won).
(photo courtesy of Getty Images)
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