I wrote about this story back in 2014 when the NLRB first tried to shoehorn college athletes into employee status with a poorly reasoned regional attorney memo out of Chicago. The issue has arisen once again, this time at Dartmouth where an NLRB office director now claims that men's college basketball players are employees of the university.
I won't reiterate all the arguments I made eight years ago, but the short answer is this is an idiotic characterization and completely misses the unique status that collegiate athletes have with respect to their coaches and their schools. Specifically, college coaches exercise far more control over athletes than any employer does or would ever want to. Coaches dictate what players eat, where they live, when they go to bed, when they get up, and when they do any number of activities that extend beyond basic practice time and game time. A better characterization of a coach's status then that of an employer is one of a parent.
If the NLRB ruling survives the inevitable court challenge, it will result in massive confusion and unintended consequences in the form of things like wage and hour claims for film study, training room time, weight training, study time, and the like. A determination that these kids are actually employees would technically expand their workday to 24/7, with all the associated liability, because that's when they are under the control of their coaches and the athletic staffs.
This determination makes no more sense now than it did eight years ago. I hope the courts will reject this director's characterization.
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