Workers ‘ compensation laws are lurking on the sidelines as federal courts, federal agencies, and now Congress consider whether college athletes are employees. The NCAA plans to settle antitrust disputes by adopting a pay-for-play model.
These laws may offer an additional means for college athletes to obtain employment protections and rights.
Workers ‘ comp has various features, and enrollment, compensation and different important factors differ state- to- state. The fundamental premise is that employees may receive reimbursement for medical bills and partial income replacement when they are injured or ill while working. Companies, including private and public colleges and sport conferences, believe the cost of workers ‘ settlement insurance policies.

Whether a employee counts as an “employee” for reasons of workers ‘ bracket regulations has generated little dispute. Businesses are paid more in staff ‘ comp plan when more of their employees are considered staff. Estimated costs vary depending on (among other things ) the frequency of workplace injuries and the applicable state law’s requirements, but an average employer pays between$ 1.00 and$ 2.00 for every$ 100 in payroll.
Workers ‘ comp is n’t a new topic in school activities. In fact, it was the first defense that college athletes were people.
Ernest Nemeth, a football player at the University of Denver, injured his back during training in 1950, and filed a workers ‘ compensation claim. Nemeth was argued by the university that he was n’t a student while he was n’t an employee while playing football. Justice Francis Knauss argued that a basketball player may get both a scholar and an individual when he wrote for the Supreme Court of Colorado in 1953.
” Higher training in this day is a business, and a great one”, Knauss noted. ” The University of Denver with its ten thousand individuals has, as the report demonstrates, lots of work for kids and non- pupils. A student employed by the University to discharge certain duties, not a part of his education program, is no different than the employee who is taking no course of instruction so far as the]Colorado ] Workmen’s Compensation Act is concerned”.
Knauss argued that a school football player is not only performing his academic duties, but also that he is also engaged in a non-traditional position. The same could be said for a student worker who prepares meals for guests in the dining room or inspections IDs when colleagues leave hostels. In those circumstances, the pupil is performing workers for the school outside of their research.
In response to the Nemeth event, the NCAA crafted the” pupil- gymnast” title. The association hoped that phrase, with the word” student” intentionally appearing before “athlete”, would convince judges of a link between playing a sport and furthering one’s college education. Additionally, the NCAA and its affiliated institutions adopted registration and opposition regulations, which promoted the same link. The plan succeeded because schools gained success in subsequent cases involving college athletes and attempts to claim workers ‘ compensation benefits.

Fast forward to 2024.
Big-time school activities have evolved into a model that resembles professional sports. College athletes can then sign endorsement deals, be properly paid recruiting inducements through NIL collectives, and transport schools as frequently as the business allows, some of whom spend more than 40 hours a week on sports and feel compelled to promote athletics over academics. Some play for coaches who make millions of dollars a year in facilities that rival those of the NFL, NBA, and NHL teams and are watched by millions of fans through multi-billion dollar TV deals.
This amateur- to- pro sports metamorphosis will only continue. In order to resolve three antitrust disputes ( House v. NCAA, Carter v. NCAA, and Hubbard v. NCAA ), the NCAA and athletes ‘ attorneys have reached a tentative agreement. The settlement, if approved, would allow colleges to pay athletes in a salary cap and revenue-sharing system, similar to what is used in professional sports.
The NCAA is pushing for a settlement that would contradict what the term” student-athlete” has historically meant, while the term is being advocated by it.
That could take on legal significance.
A de facto wage to play sports could lead to injured players claiming they are covered by workers ‘ comp laws if colleges pay athletes whose labor resembles that found in a job and whose time is tightly controlled by boss-like coaches. The precedential significance of those decisions is highly uncertain, even though colleges would cite cases from decades ago that demonstrate workers ‘ comp law does n’t apply. In terms of college athlete compensation, those cases occurred in a radically different and now outdated era.
That has a connection to disputes involving athlete employment in labor and employment law. According to the Fair Labor Standards Act, the National Labor Relations Board, and state labor laws, the National Labor Relations Board and federal courts are weighing whether college athletes are employees. Congress is considering a ban of college athlete employment.
What will happen with those issues is still up for grabs. If their athletes are employees, colleges would be required to pay workers compensation. Colleges could be held accountable if they implement a direct pay, salary cap, and revenue sharing system while battling labor and employment issues.
Do n’t be alarmed if the legal battle for college athletes turns to workers ‘ compensation.