On July 24, 2023, Lloyd Yates sued Northwestern University for being subjected to hazing that occurred on the football team. The hazing scandal dealt a career-ending blow to Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern’s football coach....more
On remand from the U.S. Supreme Court, the Seventh Circuit issued its opinion in Hughes v. Northwestern University, concluding that participants in two Northwestern 403(b) plans plausibly pled fiduciary-breach claims based on...more
The United States Supreme Court has agreed with participants in two 403(b) plans sponsored by Northwestern University that their lawsuit, alleging that plan recordkeeping and investment fees were excessive, should not have...more
On September 29, 2021, National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) General Counsel, Jennifer A. Abruzzo, released Memorandum GC 21-08 (the “GC Memo”) issuing guidance on her position that certain “Players at Academic...more
It’s difficult to imagine a four month period more impactful for the NCAA, if not for intercollegiate athletics on the whole, than the one we’re currently in. From the Supreme Court’s decision in Alston in June 2021, to the...more
The General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board), who has authority for setting prosecutorial policy for the NLRB, issued a General Counsel Memorandum (GC Memo) today, reversing the prior Board...more
Since the beginning of 2016, the ERISA plaintiffs’ bar has filed nearly two dozen complaints targeting university-sponsored 403(b) plans. The majority of these lawsuits assert that plan fiduciaries breached their duties and...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On December 1, 2017, the newly-confirmed General Counsel of the National Relations Board, Peter Robb, issued a memorandum to the NLRB regional offices listing legal issues that should be submitted for...more
In a memorandum issued on January 31, 2017, the National Labor Relations Board’s General Counsel, Richard Griffin, provided a “guide for employers, labor unions, and employees that summarizes Board law regarding NLRA employee...more
As of this writing, it has been over 850 days since UConn women’s basketball team has lost a game. When the Huskies last tasted defeat (in an overtime thriller to Stanford on November 17, 2014), football players at...more
As of this writing, it has been over 850 days since the UConn women’s basketball team has lost a game. When the Huskies last tasted defeat (in an overtime thriller to Stanford on November 17, 2014), football players at...more
A January memorandum issued by Richard Griffen, the current General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, has kicked off a debate over whether and when university students should be deemed “employees” who can assert...more
GOP Reacts Swiftly to NLRB General Counsel’s Memorandum Regarding the Status of Division I Scholarship Football Players at Private Universities - In a memorandum dated January 31, 2017, National Labor Relations Board...more
Since 2014, the National Labor Relations Board has issued three significant decisions related to union organizing at private universities: Pacific Lutheran University; Columbia College; and Northwestern University. ...more
More than a year and a half after the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or the Board) ruled that Northwestern University’s football players could not form a union, NLRB General Counsel Richard Griffin announced his...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In a last minute attempt to leave his mark on the NLRB, the Board’s outgoing General Counsel issued a report attempting to expand the rights of university faculty and students, including scholarship...more
The General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board issued a recent Advice Memorandum in Northwestern University, NLRB Case 13-CA-157467, with a strange, but practical, takeaway for employers: even if you don’t think...more
Labor and employment practitioners will undoubtedly recall the NLRB’s well-publicized foray last year into the ongoing public debate surrounding whether certain college athletes should be considered compensated...more
On September 22, 2016, the Associate General Counsel (“AGC”) for the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB,” or the “Board”) issued an Advice Memorandum indicating that a number of policies in the Northwestern University...more
ESPN recently reported that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) had “ruled” that Northwestern University’s football players were actually “employees,” and that the University’s policing of its football players’ social...more
Last year the National Labor Relations Board ruled that it did not have jurisdiction to consider a petition by undergraduate football players at Northwestern University for recognition of a union and collective bargaining...more
To mark the 80th birthday of the National Labor Relations Act, the National Labor Relations Board apparently decided to make history in 2015. The Board did just that, issuing several ground breaking decisions, and in the...more
The National Labor Relations Board (Board) has voted 3-1 to reconsider whether graduate assistants at private, nonprofit higher education institutions are entitled to collective bargaining rights under the National Labor...more
A prior post considered the case of Ha v. Northwestern University, in which the plaintiff claimed that Northwestern had violated Title IX by insufficiently disciplining one of its professors, Peter Ludlow, despite concluding...more