Are college athletes "employees"?

Here's the latest on whether college athletes are "employees."

A federal Circuit Court just weighed in on whether they can establish employee status under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Johnson v. NCAA (3rd Cir 07/11/2024) [PDF].

As the court put it, the issue is "whether college athletes, by nature of their so-called amateur status, are precluded from ever bringing an FLSA claim. Our answer to this question is no."

The athletes want to get at least minimum wage for the time they spent representing their schools, so they sued the NCAA and several member schools. The defendants are saying the athletes are amateurs, not employees, so not covered by the FLSA.

The trial court ruled that the athletes are employees.

The 3rd Circuit didn't exactly disagree with that conclusion, but did disagree with the way the trial court reached that conclusion. So the case now goes back to the trial court to do a makeover.

In a 65 page decision the 3rd Circuit said that whether college athletes are employees is based on "an economic realities analysis grounded in common-law agency principles."

The court said, "We therefore hold that college athletes may be employees under the FLSA when they (a) perform services for another party, (b) necessarily and primarily for the other party's benefit, (c) under that party's control or right of control, and (d) in return for express or implied compensation or in-kind benefits." (cleaned up.)

Meanwhile, an NLRB Regional Director determined that the players on a men’s college basketball team at Dartmouth are employees of the college. The Board itself has not ruled on this case.