Catherwood LibraryILR School

The NLRB decided on October 7th that Northwestern will not face charges of unfair labor practices against its football players. This ruling implicitly suggests that college athletes could be considered employees, because the NLRB found that Northwestern’s rules did not allow athletes to discuss workplace concerns or issues. Some of these guidelines prohibited football players from talking about the team in a negative light, and also forced the student athletes to “keep [Northwestern’s] information private”. The university has since eliminated the problematic language in the handbook; therefore the NLRB had no reason to rule that there had been unfair practices.