A federal judge has denied a bid by multiple universities to be let out of a class action lawsuit against them and the NCAA filed by collegiate athletes seeking to be compensated as employees for their time on the schools’ sports teams.

U.S. District Judge John Padova of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania rejected the argument of the universities—collectively referred to in his ruling as the “attended schools defendants” or ADS—that the student athletes were not eligible for compensation because could not be considered the schools’ employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act.