The Morris County Golf Club is one of the most prestigious in the state, an establishment founded nearly 130 years ago that boasts an elite members-only club surrounded by a sprawling 150-acre course designed by world-class architect Seth Raynor.
The invitation-only club operates each season with a roughly 30-member team of caddies, who lend physical and moral support to golfers, but who claim their value is not being rightfully compensated by their employers in return. In a lawsuit filed in state Superior Court in Morris County, a former caddie says he and others didn’t even get paid minimum wage or overtime pay, despite working long hours on the course.
Jose Yanez, who worked during the 2020 season, filed a proposed class action suit on behalf of an estimated 50 caddies who were employed at the Morristown-based association from August 2019 through the September 28 filing of the complaint. He seeks unpaid overtime premium and minimum wage pay and monies for unspecified damages.
Yanez, who has since moved out of state, says the caddies have been wrongly classified as independent contractors and are only being paid bag fees — golfers pay $80 per bag at the Morris club — plus any tips, a policy that his attorney Douglas Lipsky says violates state law.
An administrator at the Morris County Golf Club did not respond to a request for comment. An attorney representing the club is not yet listed in court documents. An attorney that represented the club in a prior filing was contacted but did not immediately respond.
Golf caddies’ rights have become a hot topic over the years in New Jersey. Earlier this year, Lipsky filed a suit on behalf of nearly 250 caddies at the Montclair Golf Club in West Orange, who have claimed similar violations of the law.
In January 2021, Gov. Phil Murphy vetoed, or failed to sign a measure that would have protected golf caddies’ employment status as independent contractors in New Jersey. An amended bill, sponsored by Sen. Jon Bramnick, was introduced in the New Jersey State Senate earlier this year but is awaiting review by the Senate Labor Committee.
How the caddie system works
The IRS urges businesses to abide by “common law rules” when determining whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor, but states that there is no “magic” set of factors that “makes” a worker one or the other. The key is to look at the entire relationship and consider the right to direct and control the worker as well as how the worker is paid and any written agreements, the IRS states.
Yanez said the Morris County Golf Club employs significant control over its caddies by employing a caddie master, whose duties include assigning caddies to a golfer, supervising and firing the caddies, and scheduling.
New caddies undergo training at the club and are given a hat and bib to wear before they take on their duties of carrying golfers’ bags, retrieve and clean the golfers’ clubs and ball, correct divots on the course and rake sand traps, among other duties. They are told that if they look to caddie elsewhere, then it means they “no longer want to” caddie at the Morris club, the lawsuit states.
Caddies are requested by a golfer, pre-assigned by the caddie master, or wait to be assigned with a typical round of golf lasting around four hours, with each caddie working one or two rounds per day. Caddies who arrive early are often rewarded with two golfers and conversely punished and not given golfers should they arrive late, the suit states.
Caddies, who work on average five to six days and 50 hours per week, would not get paid until golf carts were washed, parked and charged in their cart barns, the suit states. The caddie master would instruct caddies to pull carts and park them in appropriate spots for golfers during large golf outings before cleaning and storing them after the outing.
The club does not pay caddies hourly nor does it keep records of how much in bag fees — a fee set by the club and not by the caddies— are being paid out, and it is at the discretion of the golfers how much they want to tip their caddie. Golfers don’t always tip, Yanez said.
Murphy signed legislation in 2019 to boost the minimum wage from $8.60 to $10, with a dollar increase each year until a $15 minimum in 2024. Bag fees and tips do not count as minimum wage obligations, the suit states.
Morris County Golf Club was founded by women in 1894 and became an early member of the United States Golf Association. Many popular golfers have been associated with the club, including six-time Open Champion and golf’s “first superstar” Harry Vardon and Bobby Jones, who founded and helped design Augusta National Golf Club and co-founded the Masters Tournament.
Lori Comstock can be reached on Twitter: @LoriComstockNJH, on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/LoriComstockNJH or by phone: 973-383-1194.