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NLRB General Counsel: College Athletes Are “Employees” Under the NLRA

 

Are you sitting down for this one?  If not, take a minute before reading further.

On September 29th, National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued a memo in which she stated that college athletes at private colleges/universities should be classified as employees under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”).  According to Abruzzo, these college athletes provide a financial benefit to their colleges/universities while the colleges/universities control the athletic activities of the players.  Abruzzo’s argument followed that these college athletes not being classified as employees is a violation of the NLRA.

Some readers might be thinking…ok, so what?  In short, if college athletes are found to be employees, they would gain the right organize and form a union, be entitled to compensation, open universities up to unemployment insurance/compensation matters, etc.

A few years ago, football players at Northwestern University had attempted to unionize but those efforts fell short when the NLRB held that the matter was out of its jurisdiction.  Notably, the NLRB did not rule on whether the Northwestern football players were actually employees.  In short, the NLRB kicked the can down the road.  Things have slowly started to trend the other way in recent years, namely with the United States Supreme Court holding in NCAA v. Alston that college athletes have a right to be compensated for their image and likeness.

It is important to note that Abruzzo’s memo does not set legal precedent or create new law.  With that being said, it does set things in motion for the NLRB to issue a decision holding that college athletes are employees.  If/when that does happen, however, it would only impact college athletes at private colleges/universities rather than public schools.  With that being said, if/when an eventual decision is handed down from the NLRB, the floodgates will open.


For a copy of Abruzzo’s memo:  https://apps.nlrb.gov/link/document.aspx/09031d458356ec26

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