Biden Picks College Athlete Advocate as Acting General Counsel of NLRB

Intro by James Nussbaum, Indiana Universirty

In 2014, then Regional Director for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Chicago Peter Ohr found that certain college athletes were employees as defined by the National Labor Relations Act. Before a vote by the Northwestern University football team on whether to unionize could be counted, the NLRB voted 5-0 to decline jurisdiction over the matter. Peter Ohr has now been appointed to serve as general counsel for the NLRB. The board’s 2015 ruling acknowledged that there are many contributing factors: the role that conferences play, whether or not the university is public, and how a ruling could affect competition. However, Ohr’s appointment could lead to additional advocacy in support of the idea that college athletes should be considered employees and therefore afforded the same benefits and protections. Read more from Sportico here.

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