NABET ESPN Sports Daily Hire FAQ’s

Daily Hires are paid for a minimum of 8 hours of travel pay.

If driving: Time is calculated using the first suggested route from Mapquest, from your house to the venue/ hotel. This is also used to determine your mileage reimbursement.
If flying: The eight hours is calculated from scheduled flight wheels up, till landing. When traveling from home to work, the DH is paid for 30 min after landing. On return flight home, the clock stops when landed.

The pay is $300 for 8 hours (as of 4/1/2025). Overtime is earned beyond the eight hours. If the Daily Hire goes over 8 hours traveling to work, let your Operations Manager know. If OT is earned returning home, there is an online Smartsheet to fill out. The link can be found in the confirmation email when booked.
Here is a handy calculator for calculating time when traveling across time zone and dates.

This is covered in Article XVI, section 16.4 of the
2021-2025 NABET-CWA ABC Master Agreement

>Time and Date Calculator: Duration Across Time Zones

Travel/Work (T/W) or Work/Travel (W/T): The times for the travel portion would start/stop as listed above. And the the work portion would be start/stop as normal on site work. The entire day’s rate is paid as a normal day at normal rate, overtime, etc. Article XVI, section 16.4 of the 2021-2025 NABET-CWA ABC Master Agreement

If you are traveling between shows, it is called a “Sandwich” day? For example, your first event ends Monday, on Tuesday you travel, and Wednesday start a new event in a new city, over 65 miles from the first. This is a sandwich day. It is paid at a flat 8 hours of pay, regardless of travel times. The rate is based on your rate on the first show. These hours do count as work hours, and the day does get the benefits such as Pilb, 401k, Flex Plan contribution etc.
-Contract section A14.3 (c)
2021-2025 NABET-CWA ABC Master Agreement

In short, travel time between hotel and venue us not paid. (Note: Mileage is reimbursed). However if the travel time is over 30 minutes, the time over 30 minutes is paid, in 5 minute increments. This is covered in Article XVI, Section 16.6 (b).
2021-2025 NABET-CWA ABC Master Agreement

In short: After 40 hours of straight time have accrued, within the pay week. (Saturday thru Friday).
In most cases: “All OT” starts on the on the 5th day within the pay week regardless of how many hours overtime was worked the first 4 days, since these hours were already paid at OT. Four days with 10 hours at straight time per day, equals 40 hours. After this, then all Overtime.
Note: This can be affected by sandwich days (8 hrs), DOOT’s, holiday’s etc.

ARTICLE A-XIV Section A14.2 (b)
… any work performed on New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr.
Day, Memorial Day (last Monday in May), Juneteenth (June 19), July Fourth,
Labor Day, Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving Day, the Friday after Thanksgiving Day
and Christmas Day, excluding meal periods, shall be regarded as overtime and
compensated at one and one-half (1 ½) times the regular rate of pay hereunder.

… For daily hires hired in the field at the ten (10) hour rate, compensation at the rate
equal to two (2) times shall not commence on the holidays worked (as enumerated
in the preceding sentence) until after the tenth (10th) hour of work.

Note: this is an excerpt of the full section of the contract, and it is one of the more difficult sections to read and understand.

2021-2025 NABET-CWA ABC Master Agreement

Note: Holiday pay is not paid on travel days or sandwich days.

A DOOT is a Day Off Out of Town, also known as a “dark day.” If the DH is out of town ,but not need to work, it is referred to as a DOOT. This is paid as 10 hours of the DH’s day rate on the previous day. It does not get the benefits such as Pilb, Flex, 401k, etc. and does not count towards the 40 hours in the work week, since it wasn’t actually worked.
On the Statement or Earnings (SoE) it is listed as “OutTownMisc.”

Daily hires do not receive reimbursement for laundry, but they do receive laundry pay. If you stay away from home for 5 days or more, including travel days, you receive $6 per day starting from day 1. The system and operations managers, add the $6 automatically, and it usually arrives with the same payment as the Per Diem. You do not need to submit receipts or complete any process for this reimbursement payment.

The Entertainment Industry Flex Plan oversees your account, which may also receive contributions from employers like Fox and CBS. These funds can be used for health insurance, premium reimbursements, medical expense reimbursements and other items.
To learn about the different ways you can access and use your funds, we recommend contacting the Flex Plan directly.

Please note: certain restrictions were added under the Affordable Care Act, which may affect how your funds can be used. Since individual situations can vary, the Flex Plan can provide guidance tailored to your circumstances.

If you’d like to see these funds made more accessible, you can also contact your state legislators here to request policy changes.

Yes and yes!! You have a 401k that the ESPN contributions are deposited into. There are two companies that manage the 401k accounts. You can also contribute additional funds into the 401k account pre-tax, out of each pay check.
– Entertainment Industry 401k Website Contact: info on website
– CWA-SRT 401k website contact: cwasrt@cwa-union.org
If your account is with CWASRT reach out to them to start/adjust your contributions. The process if very simple.

PILB = Payment In Lieu of Benefits
In NABET (National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians) contracts, PILB refers to an additional payment made to daily hires who do not qualify for company-provided benefits (such as health insurance, pension, etc.). Instead of receiving those benefits, they are compensated with a flat dollar amount per day or per week in lieu of benefits.
On the Statement of Earnings, it is listed as “DH PILB” for Daily Hire Payment in Lieu of Benefits.

In short, the structure of your pay will not change when working in California, under the NABET ESPN contract.
In California, a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) can override state overtime laws for employees covered by the agreement, but only if certain conditions are met. Specifically, the CBA must explicitly address wages, hours, and working conditions, provide for premium pay for overtime, and guarantee a regular rate of pay that is at least 30% more than the California minimum wage. 
This is covered under California Labor Code 514 which states:
514. Sections 510 and 511 do not apply to an employee covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement if the agreement expressly provides for the wages, hours of work, and working conditions of the employees, and if the agreement provides premium wage rates for all overtime hours worked and a regular hourly rate of pay for those employees of not less than 30 percent more than the state minimum wage.

For events airing on ABC, the benefits change slightly, as can be seen on the benefits calculator page or NABET Resource home page. These events are also paid on a separate PERNR number and payroll. All of the earnings will be on the same W2 for tax purposes.

The NABET CBA for ESPN Sports daily hires applies only to events taking place within the continental United States. It does not cover work performed in Hawaii, Alaska, or any international locations.
It also does not apply to events in the continental U.S. that are broadcast exclusively to international markets.
The contract only applies to events where ABC is the crewer and which air on one of the covered platforms listed in Section A15.2(a). (ABC Network, ESPN, ESPN2, etc.)

Each local has different rates for their dues. Generally they are in the 1.5-3% range. Reach out to your local office for more information on this.
NABET Contacts

Unionfacts.com is the website for the Center for Union Facts (CUF), a non-profit organization that maintains a searchable database of information on labor unions in the United States, sourced from public government records. The names for the locals is not always easy to find, but can be done with some digging. Here’s a few
– NABET Local 16: Local 51016, Nabet Local 16, New York NY
– NABET Local 31: Local 52031, Nabet Local 31, Lanham MD
– NABET Local 41: Local 54041, Chicago IL
– NABET Local 51: Local 59051, San Francisco CA
– NABET Local 53: Local 59053, Nabet Local 53, Burbank CA

Put your rollerboard on the 3-seat side (right side of the plane, seats D–E–F).

• The right side bins (above the 3-seat rows) are larger and deeper, designed to hold standard rollerboards wheels-first.
• The left side bins (above the 2-seat rows, seats A–B) are shallower, meant for smaller bags, backpacks, or coats.
• This design traces back to the MD-80 series, from which the Boeing 717 was developed — same basic cabin cross-section.

Summary:

So: right side bins for your rollerboard