College athlete group files complaint, seeks employee status

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An advocacy group filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday, the latest step in a push to give employee status to college athletes and afford them the right to competitive pay, collective bargaining and other benefits and protections.

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The National College Players Association filed the unfair labor practice charges against the NCAA, Pac-12 Conference, UCLA and the University of Southern California as single and joint employers of Bowl Subdivision football players and Division I men’s and women's basketball players.

"College athletes meet the definition of employee under labor law," said Ramogi Huma, the NCPA executive director and a former linebacker for UCLA. "They are highly skilled in their sport, paid scholarships and stipends to perform athletic services, and they perform their work under extensive control of their employer. These athletes deserve every right afforded to them under labor laws — just like other hard-working Americans."

The NCPA's move comes about four months after the NLRB's general counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, wrote in a memo to NLRB field offices that in her view college athletes who earn millions for their schools are employees.

The guidance had been expected to lead to a fresh challenge of college sports' longtime view that athletes are amateurs who are not eligible for benefits afforded employees.

FILE - UCLA running back Zach Charbonnet (24) runs the ball in for a touch down as Southern California defensive lineman Jacob Lichtenstein (97) tries to stop him during the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 20, 2021, in