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NCAA asks court to dismiss former USC linebacker Lamar Dawson’s wage lawsuit

USC's Lamar Dawson tackles Washington State's Marcus Mason on Sept. 7, 2013.
USC’s Lamar Dawson tackles Washington State’s Marcus Mason on Sept. 7, 2013.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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The NCAA warned that paying athletes “could jeopardize the long-term sustainability of college sports” in a motion to dismiss former USC linebacker Lamar Dawson’s class-action lawsuit against the organization.

Dawson sued the NCAA and Pac-12 in September, alleging they violated state and federal law governing hours and wages and were “joint employers” of Division I football players.

The NCAA pushed back last week in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, calling the action “misplaced” and citing a section of California’s labor code that says college athletes aren’t employees for the purposes of worker’s compensation.

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“Given that, as a matter of well-settled California law, a student-athlete is not an employee of his or her school,” the motion said, “an athletic conference and a national membership organization that have literally no day-to-day interaction with the student-athletes attending their member institutions cannot possibly be an employer.”

The NCAA added in a footnote that “imposing wage and hour liability and requiring payment of wages could … potentially take away opportunities for thousands of prospective student-athletes.”

Dawson played for USC from 2011 through 2015. His lawsuit seeks unpaid wages and overtime in addition to unspecified damages.

nathan.fenno@latimes.com

Twitter: @nathanfenno

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