Dawson

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO DISMISS

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Lamar Dawson, a former college football player for the University of *403 Southern California (“USC”), brings this putative class action lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) and the PAC-12 Conference (“PAC-12”) for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and the California Labor Code. Defendants move to dismiss on the grounds that student athletes are not covered under either statute and Dawson lacks standing to sue. Defendants rely heavily on the Seventh Circuit’s opinion in Berger v. Nat’l Collegiate Athletic Ass’n, 843 F.3d 285 (7th Cir. 2016), which held, as a matter of law, that former student athletes of NCAA Division I schools are not “employees” under the FLSA. While the Berger decision, as out of circuit authority, is not binding and the parties dispute its applicability, its reasoning is persuasive and defendants’ motion will be granted.

II. BACKGROUND

From 2011 to 2015, Dawson played football for the University of Southern California, a Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) member of the PAC-12. He alleges that, in that capacity, he was denied full pay for…