Villanova Football Player Files Wage and Hour Class Action Against NCAA, 20 Div. 1 Schools

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The NCAA and 20 private and semi-public Division I institutions are the defendants in a proposed class action lawsuit that alleges they’ve violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by failing to pay at least minimum wages to students attending school on athletic scholarships. The 56-page lawsuit argues that neither academic nor athletic scholarships are a substitute for compensation for performance, and makes the case that while student ticket takers, seating attendants, and food concession workers at NCAA sporting events are classified as employees under the FLSA—and thereby paid on a minimum wage scale—athletes on scholarship, “whose athletic performance creates those work study jobs at the ticket gate,” are paid nothing.

The complaint notes that this lawsuit is different from a previous case against the NCAA (Berger v. NCAA et al.; 1:14-CV-1710) in that it seeks to cover both scholarship athletes and “walk-ons” – students who are not obligated to and governed by athletic financial aid agreements with NCAA member schools. Moreover, this lawsuit specifically names as defendants schools that employ full-time coaches, trainers, and athletics department personnel whose jobs are to control and direct scholarship student athletes’ performance. Lastly, the case takes aim at the schools themselves, not NCAA member conferences.

The below schools are named as defendants in this lawsuit alongside the NCAA:

The plaintiff in the case is a Villanova University football player who attended the school on an athletic scholarship during the 2014-2015 academic year. The individual brought the case “on behalf of all recipients of athletic scholarships under Athletic Financial Aid Agreements requiring them to participate in NCAA athletics at private and semi-public NCAA Division I member schools” at any time within the three-year statute of limitations.

The complaint goes on to argue that, when compared to academic scholarships, athletic scholarships impose far more stringent and time-demanding obligations – burdens that the lawsuit claims interfere with, rather than facilitate, academic pursuits. Moreover, among numerous other points, the case brings up the prohibition of student athletes from earning income that can be spent on living expenses not covered by athletic scholarships, an argument that rears its head in almost every discussion on matters concerning the NCAA and athletes’ rights. All told, the complaint posits that scholarship athletes’ performance “primarily” benefits the NCAA and its member schools, “and provides no comparable academic or learning benefit” to individual students.