In Johnson v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, (E.D. Pa. Case No. 19-cv-05230), five colleges and universities, along with the NCAA, are now seeking certification for interlocutory appeal over denials of their motions to dismiss—denials which some have hailed as a step toward recognizing college athletes as employees. By denying the motions to dismiss, the court allowed a proposed class action of college athletes to proceed on the basis that they were employees and thus entitled to minimum wages from various colleges, universities and the NCAA. The potential appeals are just one of the latest issues the NCAA and its members are facing after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in NCAA v. Alston, which held that the NCAA could not enforce certain rules limiting the education-related benefits that its member schools could offer athletes.

A former Villanova University football player initially commenced the class action matter in November 2019, and was later joined by other former and current college athletes who attended Cornell University, Fordham University, Lafayette College and Sacred Heart University (the attended schools). The core of the plaintiffs’ claims is that as college athletes they were employees of their respective institutions and that the NCAA was their joint employer. As such, plaintiffs argue they were owed, but not paid, a required minimum wage pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

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