Northwestern Ducks Labor Ruling on Football Players

Northwestern University will not face unfair labor practice proceedings for imposing unlawful rules on its football players, the NLRB’s general counsel ruled (Northwestern Univ., NLRB Div. of Advice, Case 13-CA-157467, 9/22/16 [released 10/7/16]).

The general counsel’s rejection of an unfair labor practice charge against the university ended a possible test case on the rights of scholarship athletes at private universities.

The National Labor Relations Board decided in 2015 to block unionization of Northwestern’s football players (362 N.L.R.B. No. 167, 204 LRRM 1001 (2015)).

However, the board based its 5-0 decision on findings ...