Trump College-Athlete Mandate Seeks DOL Input Amid Cases

Labor and employment attorney Timothy Taylor was quoted in a Law360 article on President Donald Trump's executive order directing the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to issue guidance on the employment status of college athletes. Per the order, titled "Saving College Sports," Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will "clarify the status of collegiate athletes" in terms of classifying them as employees or non-employees. The order comes as courts have issued various rulings on the matter, including a 2021 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down NCAA rules restricting education-related compensation and benefits for student-athletes. Mr. Taylor explained the guidance will likely come from the DOL's Wage and Hour Division and could take one of several forms: informal guidance documents, opinion letters or an administrator's interpretation, in addition to amicus briefs in litigation. Another option, he said, is updating the division's field operations handbook, an internal manual containing agency statutory interpretations.

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