NCAA Can’t Shake Class Action Arguing College Athletes Should Be Paid

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

NCAA College Athlete Wages Class Action Lawsuit Overview: 

• Who: College athletes filed a class action lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and college universities. 
• Why: Plaintiffs claim that as NCAA student athletes they are owed minimum wage.
• Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in Pennsylvania federal court.

College athletes alleging they should be considered employees and paid at least minimum wage had a portion of their class action lawsuit filed against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and universities they attended upheld by a federal judge last week. 

The judge ruled the athletes had “plausibly alleged,” the NCAA was their joint employer, however he dismissed complaints against multiple universities which the athletes did not attend.

College Athletes Should Be Paid Minimum Wage, Contends Class Action

Lead plaintiff and former Villanova football player Ralph “Trey” Johnson filed the class action lawsuit back in 2019, alleging NCAA student athletes counted as employees, and were consequently owed minimum wage under Pennsylvania law and the Fair Labor Standards Act. 

Johnson and a group of current and former college athletes — who together later filed an amended complaint that added claims under New York and Connecticut laws — have pending a bid for collective certification for what will ultimately be 170,000 Class Members. 

The judge said he used the four-part “Enterprise test” to determine whether or not the defendants could constitute as joint employers, and highlighted that the NCAA was able to suspend or fire athletes for failing to comply with certain bylaws it set. 

“The NCAA does more than just impose rules regarding the recruitment of intercollegiate athletes; it also investigates violations of those rules and imposes penalties, including the firing of student athletes, for those violations,” the judge said. “We thus conclude that the Complaint plausibly alleges that the NCAA exercises significant control over the hiring and firing of student athletes.” 

The four-part Enterprise test was established by the Third Circuit in a 2012 ruling and looks at whether an alleged employer can create terms of conditions of employment, hire and fire employees, is involved in day-to-day management and regulation, and whether it has control of the records of employees. 

The judge ruled that the NCAA’s relationship with the student athletes applied to all four standards set by the Enterprise test, while none applied to universities of which the athletes did not attend. 

The attended schools, the NCAA, and non-attended schools all previously filed for a motion to dismiss the class action lawsuit in March 2020.

A judge ruled earlier this month that a class action lawsuit alleging the NCAA discriminates against student athletes from historically Black universities could proceed. 

Do you think college athletes should be paid? Let us know in the comments! 

The athletes are represented by Paul L. McDonald of PL McDonald Law LLC and Michael J. Willemin and Renan F. Varghese of Wigdor LLP. 

The NCAA College Athlete Wages Class Action Lawsuit is Ralph Johnson, et al. v. The National Collegiate Athletic Association, et al., Case No. 2:19-cv-05230, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

• Judge Dismisses Proposed Class Action Lawsuit Against FanDuel Due to User Terms and Conditions
• Coppertone Mineral-Based Sunscreen $2.25M Class Action Settlement
• NCAA Discrimination Class Action Lawsuit Filed by Black Student Athletes Will Continue, Judge Rules
• Do You Qualify: Catholic Youth Organization Sex Abuse Lawsuit Investigation