Q. Are students who work in connection with their studies considered to be “employees” and therefore able to unionize?
A. In a significant development for private colleges and universities, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced that it intends to propose rules that would establish a “standard for determining whether students who perform services at private colleges or universities in connection with their studies are ‘employees’” under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The NLRB currently projects that the proposed rules will be issued in September 2019. It is widely expected that the rules, which will be proposed by the Republican-controlled Board, will make it more difficult for students to be classified as “employees” for the purpose of forming unions.