Six former Redskins ticket sales agents "have filed a lawsuit against the team, arguing that they're owed tens of thousands of dollars in overtime pay," according to Dan Steinberg of the WASHINGTON POST. The Redskins are "contesting the suit in a private arbitration proceeding, saying they didn't have to pay the former employees overtime because of a federal exemption for amusement and recreation workers." The dispute "began last year when the agents were switched from salaries to hourly wages with overtime." That change "followed a July 2008 federal court ruling in a similar case involving" the Hornets. A U.S. District Court in Louisiana ruled that Hornets employees "were not exempt from overtime rules." Redskins General Counsel David Donovan said that the Redskins "disagreed with the district court's ruling," but "changed their sales staff's pay structure to protect themselves against further legal risks." The team said that the sales staff's "new pay rates would be equivalent to the old salaries." Attorney James Rubin, who is representing the former ticket sales agents, said that he "notified the team by letter in October that it owed the sales agents tens of thousands of dollars of overtime pay." Rubin said that the next day the Redskins "fired one of his clients, which the team said was unrelated to Rubin's letter." The former Redskins employees, "who worked in both the regular and premium ticket sales divisions, filed the action in a private arbitration proceeding as required by their contracts, requesting more than $185,000 in back overtime pay, unpaid commissions, penalties, attorneys fees and interest" ( WASHINGTON POST, 8/15 ). TWITTER BAN : In DC, Rick Maese reported the Redskins yesterday announced that media organizations covering the team "can no longer use Twitter to report updates from the team's preseason practices." Redskins Dir of PR Zack Bolno said that the team does not "want sensitive information about injuries and strategy being shared during practice." Bolno said that the team's official Web site and ESPN Radio 980 DC, which is owned by Redskins Owner Dan Snyder, "are not subject to the ban." NFL VP/Communications Brian McCarthy said that 22 teams "permit real-time reporting from practices that are open to the public." Professional Football Writers of America (PFWA) President Charean Williams said that she is "not certain many teams will allow tweeting during practices that are not open to the public." Bolno said that reporters "will still be allowed to update blogs, though they'll have to leave the practice fields to do so" ( WASHINGTONPOST.com, 8/16 ). Also in DC, Ryan O'Halloran wrote, "The team's rationale? Other than wanting to control the message, don't know. There wasn't any kind of major breach on the media's Twitter accounts" ( WASHINGTONTIMES.com, 8/16 ).
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