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By paNOW Staff

CHL

CHL employment class action lawsuit now settled

May 15, 2020 | 3:24 PM

The six years of an ongoing court battle for the Canadian Hockey League to pay its players minimum wage is now over.

The CHL will now pay $30 million to settle the class-action employment lawsuit against all three of its leagues — the Western Hockey League, the Ontario Hockey League and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

The settlement will pay legal fees and other expenses, before the remainder is split between the plaintiffs made up of former CHL players in Sam Berg, Lukas Walter, Travis McEvoy, Kyle O’Connor and Thomas Gobeil.

The lawsuit was actually settled back in February before both sides announced on Friday. The settlement is subject to approval by the courts.

During the court case, Canada’s provinces determined CHL players were student athletes, and its teams did not have to treat them like employees with minimum wage or overtime or backpay.

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The CHL described why they decided to settle in an open letter, despite this fact.

“We did this because cases like these are very expensive and are a distraction to the league and as we had publicly disclosed, we had $30 million in insurance for these lawsuits,” the CHL’s statement read. “This settlement does not mean that we agree with the plaintiffs. It means that we wanted to end the lawsuits so we could continue to focus on being the best development league in hockey.

“All Canadian provincial governments reviewed the issue of player status and clarified in their legislation that our players are amateur student athletes and not employees covered by minimum wage or employment laws. While this ended the issue going forward, the lawsuits continued to be a distraction and would continue to damage the financial position of our teams by costing millions of dollars in legal fees for five to 10 more years. Millions of dollars that would pay lawyers and add nothing to our player experience or the strength of our teams.”

In a statement made by the plaintiffs’ counsel, Charney Lawyers PC, Goldblatt Partners LLP and Savonitto and Ass. Inc., they said that “this settlement, which is subject to approval by the Courts, will fully and finally resolve the CHL employment class actions.”

Even with the determinations the provinces made against, the players are still pleased with the results of the suit.

“We launched these class actions to fight for the rights of the players and to make a positive change, and we’re proud of what these lawsuits and this settlement have achieved,” Sam Berg and Lukas Walter, the two initial plaintiffs in these actions said. “While we can’t do anything about the legislative amendments exempting players from employment standards legislation across the country, this settlement will put millions of dollars into the pockets of the hardworking players and will make a real difference in their lives.”

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panews@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @princealbertnow