NLRB officials in Los Angeles determined that the NCAA, along with the Pac-12 Conference and the University of Southern California, are joint employers of athletes. | Andy Lyons/Getty Images
12/15/2022 08:34 PM EST
Updated: 12/15/2022 09:53 PM EST
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is breaking federal law by not classifying student athletes as employees, according to the National Labor Relations Board.
NLRB officials in Los Angeles determined that the NCAA, along with the Pac-12 Conference and the University of Southern California, are joint employers of athletes — an assessment that could ultimately allow student athletes to unionize.
By not designating athletes as employees, the trio are infringing on those students’ labor rights, General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo said Thursday.
“This kind of misclassification deprives these players of their statutory right to organize and to join together to improve their working/playing conditions if they wish to do so,” Abruzzo said in a statement. “Our aim is to ensure that these players can fully and freely exercise their rights.”
Abruzzo issued a memo last September 2021 outlining her belief that student athletes should be treated as employees for the purposes of the National Labor Relations Act and vowed to take action to enforce that view.
For decades, colleges and the NCAA have resisted attempts to rein in their control over athletes in the system. But the business model has come under intense...
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