On July 31, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey (D) signed into law a bill that is intended to increase wage transparency and close the gender-based wage gap in the Commonwealth. The law, which will take effect August 1,...more
Many believe that college athletics is in the process of transitioning to a structure in which at least some student-athletes are considered “employees.” The NCAA and its member institutions are facing a variety of antitrust,...more
5/1/2024
/ Collective Bargaining ,
College Athletes ,
Colleges ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Employee Rights ,
Health Insurance ,
Name and Likeness ,
NCAA ,
Student Athletes ,
Taxable Income ,
Workers’ Compensation
In a February 2024 decision, a National Labor Relations Board Regional Director held that Dartmouth College men’s basketball players were “employees” for purposes of the National Labor Relations Act and entitled to unionize....more
There’s a flag on the play. Professional sports is merit-based. Their highly competitive nature requires teams to retain only the most highly skilled players. Failure to do so will be apparent in the team’s win-loss record. ...more
In a groundbreaking decision on February 5, the Regional Director for Region 01 of the National Labor Relations Board ruled that the men’s basketball student-athletes for Dartmouth College are to be considered employees under...more
The players say, “No thanks.”
Florida and California are seen as polar opposites when it comes to policy and lawmaking. However, there is at least one thing they seem to agree on – minor league baseball players should be...more
2/27/2024
/ Baseball ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Minimum Salary ,
MLB ,
NLRB ,
Over-Time ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Sports ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
You can’t please everyone. Two-thirds of players in the National Football League are Black, a number that has not materially changed for decades. However, the coaching ranks have never reflected the demographics of the...more
In January 2023, the National Women’s Soccer League permanently or temporarily banned seven former coaches and executives. The league’s actions followed the issuance of a 125-page report by the law firms of Covington &...more
In a February 5 decision, Laura A. Sacks, the Regional Director for Region 01 of the National Labor Relations Board, concluded that the men’s basketball student-athletes for Dartmouth College are employees for purposes of the...more
Bill Belichick is considered by many to be the greatest coach in the history of the National Football League, including many people in Massachusetts. Over a 24-year career as their head coach, Mr. Belichick led the New...more
Arbitration evaders, take note. In February 2022, coach Brian Flores filed a press-grabbing lawsuit accusing the National Football League and its clubs of racially discriminatory hiring practices, the Miami Dolphins of...more
Parents of ball player will get their day in court.
Ryan Costello was a promising young baseball player. After being drafted in the 31st round of the 2017 Major League Baseball Draft by the Seattle Mariners, and later...more
Open for negotiations.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court decided in the Federal Baseball case of 1922 that baseball was not interstate commerce, Major League Baseball has enjoyed an exemption from antitrust law.
The Supreme...more
Know your employees.
On November 17, OpenAI, the leading artificial intelligence company behind ChatGPT, announced that it had removed Sam Altman as the company’s CEO. Mr. Altman has been a long-time well-respected...more
The CBA controls.
EDITOR’S NOTE: A version of this post was previously published as an article in Hackney Publications’ Sports Litigation Alert.
A federal court in California has granted a motion by the National...more
Maybe don’t get a drink with your competitor.
These are not easy times to be in human resources. Attracting, recruiting, and retaining talented employees is as challenging as ever. As I have previously written, wages are...more
10/24/2023
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Conspiracies ,
Data-Sharing ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Guidance Documents ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Monopolization ,
No-Poaching ,
Price-Fixing ,
Rule-of-Reason Analysis ,
Sherman Act ,
Unfair Competition
Something to think about.
In his recent book, Mixed Signals: How Incentives Really Work, economist and University of California-San Diego professor Uri Gneezy examines how incentives of various kinds can and do modify...more
Employees have a right to privacy.
Mike Babcock is one of the most successful coaches in the National Hockey League. He has won 700 games with three different teams and led the Detroit Red Wings to the Stanley Cup in the...more
Sometimes "irrationality" can be rational.
It is obvious that players in the National Football League face significant risks to their health in playing professional football. The nature and probabilities of those risks has...more
Safety isn't always first.
Mike Rowe, the host of the popular television show “Dirty Jobs,” used to joke about employees in hazardous jobs saying “safety first.” In his opinion, that was never true – or they would not be...more
Watch your words.
For about a decade, James Harden has been one of the better players in the National Basketball Association. During the same time period, Daryl Morey has been one of the better executives in the NBA, first...more
Help wanted. Since March 2022, the Federal Reserve has increased its target interest rate from a range of 0.25-0.50 percent to 5.25-5.50 percent, the steepest rate increases in four decades. The purpose of the increases was...more
Will Congress go for it?
On April 3, Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association agreed to the first-ever collective bargaining agreement covering minor league baseball players. As I previously discussed, this...more
The pandemic altered some employment norms.
The COVID-19 pandemic has altered a variety of employment norms. There is considerable debate about which changes are transient and which are more durable, particularly given...more
Here’s the rundown on the likely candidates.
The NFL Players Association’s Board of Player Representatives will reportedly be meeting in June to consider and potentially vote on a new Executive Director to replace...more