NLRB Opens Backdoor for NCAA Athlete Unionization

The article, “NLRB Opens Backdoor for NCAA Athlete Unionization,” featured in The Washington Free Beacon, addressed how the broad ‘employee definition’ in the Columbia grad student ruling could re-open the door to the unionization of NCAA athletes.

Scott Schneider weighed in on how the Columbia ruling could have major consequences for American universities because of the how broadly it was written.

Scott called the Columbia case a “remarkable ruling” given its departure from prior precedent. While a previous Democratic board allowed graduate students to organize in 2000, the Columbia opinion includes undergraduates.

“It basically applies to all student employees who provide any instructional service,” he said. “Whether a service is educational is completely thrown out the window. The main question will be: are they providing services to the university and are they receiving compensation? It’s a very broad definition of employee.”

“If this board decided to revisit the issue of whether student-athletes were employees the definition of employee [set in Columbia] is so broad that student-athletes would have a very strong case,” he said.

To read the full article, please visit The Washington Free Beacon.