Punkonomics (@DearBalak)

Jiggle Tests, Dunk Tanks, and Unpaid Labor: How NFL Teams Degrade Their Cheerleaders

11 things we’ve learned from football’s cheerleader lawsuits.

—By Julia Lurie and Nina Liss-Schultz

| Thu May 22, 2014 6:00 AM EDT

NFL cheerleaders might appear to be a happy, peppy bunch, but off the sidelines their working conditions are far from cheery. On Monday, a former cheerleader for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers sued the team, claiming she was paid less than $2 per hour during her 2012-13 season of work. It was the fifth such lawsuit this year; cheerleaders for the Oakland Raiders (Raiderettes), the Cincinnati Bengals (Ben-Gals), the New York Jets (Flight Crew), and the Buffalo Bills (Jills) have filed similar suits. (In March, the Department of Labor ruled that the Raiderettes didn’t qualify for minimum-wage laws because they’re “seasonal workers.”)

So what’s it like…