A federal judge dismissed former USC linebacker Lamar Dawson’s class-action wage lawsuit against the NCAA and Pac-12 Conference on Tuesday, saying the case was based on “untenable legal theory.”
Dawson, who played for USC from 2011 through 2015, sued in U.S. District Court in San Francisco in September. The case alleged the NCAA and Pac-12 violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and California law because they don’t pay football players minimum wage or overtime.
U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg disagreed with Dawson’s argument in a 12-page opinion.
“Leaving aside the policy question of whether and how Division I FBS college football players should be compensated, there is simply no legal basis for finding them to be ‘employees’ under the FLSA,” the judge wrote.