Are Students Employees?

An on-line workshop on the Northwestern football players ruling

On Friday, May 2nd, the ILR School’s Labor and Employment Law Program hosted a forum discussing the implications of NLRB Region 13 Regional Director Peter Ohr’s decision that Northwestern’s scholarship football players are employees under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and could vote to be represented by the College Athletes Players Association (CAPA).

Moderated by Esta R. Bigler, director of the Labor and Employment Law Program, the panel included several opposing perspectives on the topic. One panelist critiqued the Brown University decision that graduate students are not employees while another gave an analysis of why Northwestern scholarship football players should be defined as students and not employees.

A vote for union representation was held on April 25 but the votes have been impounded while the Board reviews the Regional Director’s decision. 

The course earns 2 CLE credits (New York). Join the online course: Labor and Employment Law forum: Northwestern University and College Athletics Players Association (CAPA): The NLRB and College Football