Private College Athletes Are Employees, NLRB Top Lawyer Says (2)

The National Labor Relations Board’s top attorney said athletes at private colleges qualify as employees under federal labor law, entitling them to protection from retaliation for speaking out about the need for pay and working conditions.

Athletes at private institutions should be protected under the National Labor Relations Act “when they act concertedly to speak out about their terms and conditions of employment, or to self-organize, regardless of whether the Board ultimately certifies a bargaining unit,” General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo wrote in a memo released Wednesday.

Her position places the NLRB general counsel’s office, which prosecutes violations of U.S. labor ...