Donald Trump considers executive order on NCAA athletes’ employment status

President Donald Trump is considering an executive order, which will require federal officials to clarify whether the college athletes can be considered employees of their schools, according to a draft copy of the order received by ESPN this week.

The Draft asks the Labor Secretary and the National Labor Relations Board “to determine and implement the appropriate measures to clarify the status of colleges.” The draft states that the employment status of college athletes should “maximize educational benefits and opportunities” schools can provide through their athletic departments.

College sports leaders and several Republican MPs have tried to prevent athletes from getting employee rights for the past several years, as they say that many athletic departments will not be able to bear the additional costs coming with employment.

While Trump’s potential order will not clearly ban employment (the President does not have the right to make that decision in an executive order), it echoes those concerns, while NLRB and Labor Secretary clarify the employee’s position for college athletes.

The news of a possible executive order was reported earlier this week with surprise around the college game, after the story of a CBS News late Tuesday night. Sources warned ESPN that Trump could not go with an executive order, which seems more helpful for college athletics rather than determining any specific transformative changes.

The White House Press Office did not respond to the remarks request.

This order, if signed in its current draft form, the administration of Trump will also set up a commission to determine the methods that can “support the preservation of collegiat athletic opportunities,” a procedure that includes athletes, schools, conferences, lawmakers and other leaders in the industry.

The draft also says to other federal officials – such as the Federal Trade Commission, Attorney General and Secretary – to take steps towards making the policies that will support the future of the college game and provide those programs for future American Olympians.

Trump’s office expressed interest in an executive order months ago that would help address some of the current upheaval in the college sports industry, but has not yet acted.

Administrators have been asking the Congress for many years to enact a new federal law to help the schools re -achieve some power erased by antitrust cases in the last decade. Leaders have asked for a law that prevents athletes from becoming employees and provides a no -confidence exemption to the NCAA that will allow them to make their rules – many of which will limit the players’ earning ability.

If the NLRB had to decide that college athletes should not be considered employees, the athletes would not be able to form a union and would collectively bargain for increased salary or other benefits.

Earlier this week, members of the House Commerce Committee voted for a bill to proceed with a legislative process on a bill, providing the type of security to NCAA and college leaders what they want. More than a dozen bills addressing the future of the college game have been introduced in the last five years, but no one has yet reached a full vote in the House or Senate.

Rape. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who presided over the House Judiciary Committee, told ESPN on Thursday that an executive order would not change the plan to continue to move forward with a bill in Congress.

“Our employees have discussed this with the White House,” Jordan said. “If and when it comes, it will not be denied the goals and intentions of our law in any way.”

Athletes began to receive payment directly from their schools on 1 July, a major change in college sports business that came out recently as a result of antitrust settlement. According to the conditions of the settlement, each school is allowed to pay up to $ 20.5 million to its athletes in the coming academic year.

The mechanism to apply new boundaries for compensation and those boundaries is likely to invite more cases in the future if the Congress does not provide an antitrust discount to the NCAA. Trump does not have the right to give an no -confidence exemption through an executive order.

Many football coaches and athletic directors have recently stated that they believe it would be more understandable – and provides more stability – if their players were considered employees and they were able to collectively bargain.

“The best way to do this is that players are employee to make it and you have a salary hat,” Louisville Coach Jeff Brohum told ESPN earlier this month. “If the players are being paid, why don’t we do it properly? Attracting is not anymore. Let’s not pretend that it is.”

The new system for compensation considers players as independent contractors, who are receiving funds in exchange for rights to exercise their name, image and equality in the promotion of university rather than employees, which are being paid for their performance in the area. But contracts between schools and players can potentially strengthen legal arguments that athletes should be provided with rights that other employees have.

Two separate groups of college athletes who were filing NLRB’s petition for the right to demolish their cases late last year after Trump was selected.

There is an ongoing federal case (Johnson vs. NCAA) argues that athletes should be considered an employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act. In that case, the plaintiff’s lawyer, Paul McDonald’s, has earlier argued that any action preventing the college athletes from having employees will be unconstitutional as it will treat the athletes of the work that is different from the work of other students who conduct campus jobs.