NCAA Sued to Pay Minimum-Wage to Student Athletes - All Sports, Both Men and Women
Philadelphia, PA (PRWEB) October 24, 2014 -- P L McDonald Law LLC has filed a lawsuit against the NCAA to modestly compensate all NCAA Division I student athletes on par with fellow students, who participate in work study programs.
The Complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana - Sackos v. NCAA et al., No. 1:14-CV-1710 WTL-MJD - is explained on the website for SAME | Student Athlete Minimum-Wage Equity, http://www.StudentAthleteEquity.com.
Work study participants perform clerical and technical support, food service, maintenance, sales and customer service in college offices and departments, libraries, dining halls, facilities and bookstores. It is well-established that work study participants meet criteria for recognition as temporary employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and must be paid at least minimum-wage by colleges.
The lawsuit argues that student athletes also meet such criteria, as much as, if not more than, work study participants – and thus must be recognized as temporary employees under the FLSA, and paid at least minimum-wage, too. See, e.g., Complaint Para. 6.
The lawsuit alleges that both work study participants and student athletes engage in non-academic performance, for which they receive no academic credit. But, by comparison to work study participants:
• student athletes perform longer, more rigorous hours – in effect, full-time as reported in the NCAA Growth, Opportunities, Aspirations and Learning of Students (GOALS) Study (2010);
• student athletes are subject to stricter, more exacting supervision by full-time staff of colleges, e.g., coaches and NCAA compliance officers; and
• student athletes confer as many, if not more, tangible and intangible benefits on colleges.
See, e.g., Complaint Para. 5.
The lawsuit further alleges that, "Defendants’ refusal to recognize, and pay, student athletes as temporary employees of NCAA Division I Member Schools under the FLSA, codified in NCAA bylaws, produces the following perverse result: work study participants who sell programs or usher at athletic events are paid, on average, $9.03 an hour, but student athletes whose performance creates such work study jobs in the athletic department are paid nothing." See, Complaint Para. 8.
For more information about Sackos v. NCAA et al., including how it differs from other legal actions against the NCAA, visit the website for SAME | Student Athlete Minimum-Wage Equity, http://www.StudentAthleteEquity.com
Paul McDonald, P L McDonald Law LLC, http://www.StudentAthleteEquity.com, +1 (267) 238-3835, [email protected]
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