Alabama Workers' Comp Blawg

  • 14
  • Jul
  • 2026

The Stormy Petrel Strikes Back: College Athletes and Employee Status

 

Every workers' compensation claim begins with the same threshold question: Is the injured person an employee? If the answer is no, the claim ends before it begins. Traditionally, that question has been easy to answer when it comes to college athletes. Student-athletes did not earn wages, were not considered employees, and therefore were not entitled to workers' compensation benefits when they were injured representing their schools.

 

That long-standing assumption may be on borrowed time.

 

For decades, the NCAA's position has been straightforward: college athletes are students, not employees. But as television contracts climb into the billions, coaches earn salaries rivaling Fortune 500 executives, and star athletes sign lucrative NIL deals before they are old enough to rent a car, that distinction has become increasingly difficult to justify. In a recent article, Judge Frank McKay of the Georgia State Board of Workers' Compensation and Nicole Pramas examined the growing legal momentum behind a question workers' compensation professionals may soon be forced to answer:

Is a college athlete really just a student who plays sports, or has college athletics evolved into an employment relationship?

 

Recent legal developments suggest this issue is no longer confined to law review articles or sports talk radio.

 

In the unanimous 2021 decision in NCAA v. Alston, the United States Supreme Court questioned the NCAA's long-standing restrictions on athlete compensation. Then, in Johnson v. NCAA, the Third Circuit instructed courts to analyze athlete status using traditional employment principles rather than simply accepting the NCAA's characterization of the relationship.

 

Most recently, the landscape shifted again when a federal court approved the $2.8 billion settlement in House v. NCAA on June 6, 2025. The settlement permits schools to share athletic revenue directly with student-athletes, further blurring the line between student and employee. The once-bright distinction now looks more like a referee's pass interference call—subject to debate, replay, and plenty of disagreement.

 

Congress and the executive branch have both taken steps aimed at preserving the traditional amateur model, but the legal question remains unsettled. As compensation continues to move closer to a traditional employment model, it is becoming increasingly likely that courts will eventually be asked whether college athletes qualify as employees for purposes of workers' compensation and other employment laws.

 

As a proud member of the Oglethorpe University Stormy Petrels tennis team from 1987 to 1989, I feel obligated to disclose my obvious conflict of interest. If college athletes are ultimately declared employees, I intend to immediately begin negotiations over my long-overdue compensation package. At a minimum, I believe I am entitled to backpay in the form of unlimited cafeteria access and compensation for several stubborn cases of tennis elbow. I fully expect the NCAA to vigorously contest both claims.

 

For workers' compensation professionals, this is more than an interesting academic debate. Whether college athletes are employees has significant implications for compensability, insurance coverage, premium calculations, and risk management. It is a developing issue that deserves close attention because the question may soon move from the sidelines to the courtroom.

 

About the Author:

 

This article was prepared by Mike Fish, an attorney with Fish Nelson & Holden, LLC, a law firm dedicated to representing self-insured employers, insurance carriers and funds, and third-party administrators in all matters related to workers’ compensation. Fish Nelson & Holden is a member of the National Workers’ Compensation Defense Network. If you have any questions about this article or Alabama workers’ compensation in general, please contact Fish by e-mailing him at mfish@fishnelson.com or by calling him directly at 205-332-1448.

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