Dartmouth subject of latest complaint to labor board wanting athletes classified as employees

An unfair labor practice complaint has been filed against Dartmouth contending the school has violated federal law by misclassifying its players as student-athletes.

The complaint was sent Sunday to the National Labor Relations Board by Michael Hsu in his role as head of the College Basketball Players Association (CBPA). In July, Hsu filed a similar complaint against Northwestern in the wake of the hazing scandal regarding former football coach Pat Fitzgerald.

Last week, the Dartmouth men’s basketball team notified the NLRB seeking to unionize. Unionization would allow players to bargain with the school for working conditions and possible terms of employment.

In the one-page complaint, Dartmouth president Sian Leah Bellock is named as the “employer representative.” Service Employees International Union filed the petition seeking to represent the Dartmouth players. 

At heart of the filing is the term “student-athlete,” which was embraced by the NCAA in a 1950s case as an attempt to legally avoid paying workmen’s compensation benefits to the widow of a college football player who died because of his game injuries.

Critics contend that some college players are employees because required work for their team (practice, weight training, meetings, etc.) takes away from their studies. Federal labor law, in this case, only covers private institutions. The Ivy League is made up of eight private schools in the Northeast that play Division I basketball and FCS football.

“That’s where the battleground is now,” Hsu said of the Ivy League. “In the future, I could [file complaints] all today or tomorrow. I don’t want to break government.”

A similar case progressed to the point that, in May, the NLRB filed an unfair labor practice complaint…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/dartmouth-subject-of-latest-complaint-to-labor-board-wanting-athletes-classified-as-employees/

Author : Dennis Dodd

Publish date : 2023-09-18 14:55:29

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