A Wall Street Journal Article 4/15, The Perils of Workers’ Comp for Injured Cirque du Soleil Performers noted that Cirque du Soleil performers struggle because they get only workers’ comp! The Journal clearly hasn’t read the WWE lawsuits.
The WWE wrestlers not only don’t get workers’ compensation, they get no insurance or long-term care at all from WWE. If they get CTE or a neuro-cognitive disorder they get: absolutely nothing. The article also ruefully observed that unlike professional athletes, injured Cirque stars don’t even get to keep their salaries.
The article invites other interesting and startling contrasts to WWE which does not record or report its injury rates to OSHA or anyone else. Does anyone think that WWE wrestlers have lower rates of injury than Cirque du Soleil performers?
WSJ:
But Cirque stands out for the number of injuries to its performers, many of which become workers’ compensation claims. A Wall Street Journal analysis showed that in 2011, the most recent year for which data is available, Cirque’s Kà show in Las Vegas had a higher rate of injury than all but 78 workplaces on a list of nearly 52,000 of the most dangerous compiled by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Most top professional sports teams, including Major League Baseball, which are among the only workplaces (wait what about WWE?) to come close to Cirque in likelihood of injuries, give workers their full salary until their multiyear contracts expire. In the National Football League, injured players receive only a portion of their salary for a few years if they can’t play, but they generally receive large upfront bonus payments to make up for the risk, according to sports agents and lawyers.
Ms. Muller criticized Cirque for not providing more generous financial settlements. “These are not flukes, these are accidents,” she said. “You can’t send people home broken and broke.”
Does anyone know any broken and broke former WWE wrestlers?