Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker plan to formally introduce legislation, the “College Athlete Pandemic Safety Act,” to eliminate the ability of colleges and universities to use liability waivers as a basis for student-athletes to return to campus and resume training activities. Reacting to the growing number of schools, including Ohio State, SMU, Indiana, and Iowa, requiring student-athletes to sign liability waivers or “pledges,” the Senators have expressed concern that student-athletes…

Despite the ongoing changes to the workplace in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, one thing remains unchanged: federal EEO laws and their role in the workplace. As colleges and universities and professional sports organizations make plans for the resumption of play in the next couple of months, university presidents and league officials must address their athletes’ ongoing safety concerns as they return to training environments in anticipation of resuming play. The need to protect the…

Although Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has just signed into law Florida’s state name, image and likeness legislation, Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio has introduced proposed federal legislation to address concerns regarding the ever increasing number of states introducing legislation addressing the name, image and likeness rights for student-athletes within their states. Sen. Rubio’s proposed legislation, The Fairness In Collegiate Athletics Act, would require the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to implement rules that will allow…

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is requiring athletic departments at all NCAA levels to plan for their fall 2020 athletic schedules while taking all necessary steps to keep their athletes safe. In addition to requiring its returning football players to submit to a COVID-19 test, Ohio State University has asked all the players on their football roster, and their parents, to execute an acknowledgment of risk waiver regarding the COVID-19 pandemic before being allowed to return…

To support the Trump Administration’s COVID-19 reopening policies, Chad F. Wolf, the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, signed an order exempting some foreign professional athletes (and their staff and dependents) who compete in certain leagues, from the COVID-19 travel restrictions that are in place for 30 countries: China, Iran, Ireland, the U.K, and the 26 Schengen Zone countries. Please find the rest of this article on our Immigration Blog.…

A federal judge has dismissed the Equal Pay Act (EPA) claims filed by 28 members of the U.S. Senior Women’s National Soccer Team (WNT) against the United States Soccer Federation (USSF), finding the WNT players were actually paid more than their males counterparts on the Men’s National Team (MNT) and the pay differences of which they complained were a result of the application of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the U.S. Women’s National Soccer…