Israel Quoted on College Athletes and the National Labor Relations Board Finding

Partner Jon Israel was profiled in a Reuters article, “Q&A: College Athlete Files Wage Lawsuit on Heels of NLRB Finding,” on October 29, 2014. In the Q&A article, Israel was asked about the recent U.S. government finding that college athletes are employees and therefore able to unionize and possibly seek benefits or compensation. He discussed the implications of recent National Labor Relations Board findings, in addition to a National Collegiate Athletic Association lawsuit filed by a former University of Houston soccer player for violations of federal wage and hour laws. Israel was quoted saying, “The tests are slightly different from one law to the next but the reality is that once you establish student athletes as employees under federal labor law you might very well establish them as employees under the Fair Labor Standard Act.”