Labor Board Backs USC College Athletes in Case, Arguing They Are ‘Employees’ Who Should Be Paid and Permitted To Unionize – By Elura Nanos (Law and Crime) / Dec 19, 2022
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will take the side of student athletes in an unfair labor practices case against USC, the Pac-12 Conference, and the National College Athletics Association (NCAA). If a judge sides with the NLRB, it could mean that student athletes across the nation will be reclassified as “employees” of their respective schools who are entitled not only to compensation, but to other employee benefits such as the right to unionize.
Unless the parties come to an early settlement, the labor board will be advancing a complaint raised by the National College Players Association (NCPA), an advocacy group that has waged several battles on behalf of student athletes. The NCPA argued that that college football and basketball players are employees who must be paid fare wages for their work.
The NLRB’s Region 21 in Los Angeles found that the NCPA’s complaint had merit, which fell in line with the region’s guidance issued in September 2021. provided guidance in 2021. Now, the labor board is poised to prosecute the complaint in a hearing before an administrative law judge.
