World

Hamby Disputes WNBA Claim That It’s Not Her Employer

Published

1 year ago

November 17, 2024

Hamby Disputes WNBA Claim That It’s Not Her Employer

Los Angeles Sparks forward Dearica Hamby insists the WNBA is misapplying case precedent concerning the prospective employment of college athletes and minor league baseball players as a way to avoid scrutiny in her employment retaliation lawsuit, a new court filing asserts.

Hamby’s attorneys filed a memorandum responding to a recent WNBA court filing where the league insisted that Hamby’s employment lawsuit fails in part because—the league maintains—the WNBA is not her employer. While Hamby contends the WNBA and the Las Vegas Aces were her joint employer during a time when she says she experienced unlawful discrimination on account of being pregnant, the WNBA argues it is not a joint employer of players who are employed by, and sign employment contracts with, privately owned WNBA franchises.

The WNBA drew support from Lamar Dawson v. NCAA, a 2019 case where a USC football player failed to establish the NCAA and Pac-12 were his joint employers. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reasoned that while the NCAA and Pac-12 regulated the relationship between Dawson and USC–including by setting eligibility rules and football scheduling–they didn’t hire or fire Dawson and didn’t place him at USC. The WNBA described its relationship with WNBA teams in an analogous light. The WNBA regulates the employment relationship between teams and players, including by enforcing disciplinary rules and overseeing a player draft process that gives teams the chance to draft (and employ) a player. But the WNBA insists it doesn’t directly control players.

Not so fast, Hamby argues in a brief authored by Artur Davis, Dana Sniegocki and Erin Norgaard of HKM Employment Attorneys.

Hamby maintains a key distinguishing feature between Dawson and her is that while college athletes are not (save for Dartmouth College men’s basketball players) unionized employees, WNBA players are unionized. The WNBPA negotiates a collective bargaining agreement with the WNBA that specifies terms and conditions of employment and outlines league authority. There is no such equivalent in college sports since unionization requires, among other things, employment recognition.

As Hamby tells it, the WNBA player-WNBA arrangement empowers the league with considerably more influence over WNBA players than the NCAA or Pac-12 enjoyed over USC football players in 2019. More specifically, Hamby cites “the structure of compensation and benefits, the rules of the free agent market, and the power to discipline and police misconduct” as distinguishing the WNBA’s role.

Hamby also points out that while Dawson was decided only five years ago, that was a different era in college sports. The world of college athlete compensation has changed dramatically since then. The days of amateurism, as that term was understood in 2019, are over and never coming back.

To that point, in NCAA v. Alston (2021), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the NCAA is subject to ordinary antitrust scrutiny and violated antitrust law by limiting how colleges compensate college athletes for education-related expenses. That same year, the NCAA withdrew its restraint on college athletes using their right of publicity by adopting the interim NIL policy.

Since 2021, college athletes have generated earnings in NIL deals while some NIL collectives operate as pay-for-play vehicles. The NCAA is also attempting to settle the House, Carter and Hubbard antitrust cases by paying athletes for lost opportunities to earn compensation via NIL, video games and broadcasts and letting colleges directly pay athletes for media rights, ticket sales, sponsorships and NIL in a salary-cap like model. Most on point, college athletes have had recent success arguing they’re employees. It’s logical to assume that if Dawson were litigated in 2024, its trajectory would be different in ways that better align with Hamby’s arguments.

Further, Hamby accuses the WNBA of giving short shrift to another joint employment case in sports: Aaron Senne, et al. v. MLB. That 2022 case, which concluded via a settlement, concerned minor league baseball players suing MLB, which they argued was their joint employer and on the hook to pay them no less than minimum wage and overtime pay as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act. A U.S. magistrate judge found that MLB functioned as a joint employer given its control over the entry level draft, the ability to discipline players and set first-year salaries. The WNBA reasoned Senne is inapplicable since it didn’t involve the types of claims pleaded by Hamby and didn’t concern a unionized employee like Hamby.

But Hamby argues the WNBA, which she criticizes for “cosign[ing] Senne to a footnote” in its brief, is “silent” as to whether the elements of joint control discussed in Senne apply to her case. She said it “speaks volumes” that the WNBA, at least as Hamby tells it, doesn’t adequately address analogous conduct by the WNBA in economic and disciplinary powers.

U.S. District Judge Andrew P. Gordon, who presides in Nevada, will weigh the competing arguments in deciding whether to dismiss Hamby’s lawsuit.

Related Topics:employment Featured federal courts wnba

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World

Investors brace for a bigger backlash from Middle East war

Published

2 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Investors brace for a bigger backlash from Middle East war

From being just a fringe risk, conflict in the Middle East has become a top worry for investors unsettled by the prospect of a power struggle in Iran and a protracted regional war, with ramifications for everything from global trade to inflation.

World

Tel Aviv analyst shelters from 30 missile sirens in 48 hours, says Iran ‘won’t recover’

Published

4 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Tel Aviv analyst shelters from 30 missile sirens in 48 hours, says Iran ‘won’t recover’

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The past 48 hours in Tel Aviv have been unlike anything seen before, a leading security analyst has said, as sirens blared amid missile threats following Operation Epic Fury and U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran.

“We are facing a biblical event — nothing less,” Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies and the Misgav Institute, told Fox News Digital, speaking from his shelter in the city.

Like many Israelis, Michael said he had spent hours in reinforced rooms during the ongoing barrage, adding that he was “very experienced in this.”

“But this all requires time and determination, and I do hope that Trump will also have them both,” he said, speaking shortly after the president released a video message stating that the military operation would continue “until all of our objectives are achieved.”

Explosions from projectile interceptions by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system over Tel Aviv. (JACK GUEZ / AFP via Getty Images)

“Trump is the only one who can make the change — and that change will impact the entire region and the international order for years to come,” Michael added.

As of Sunday, Tel Aviv remained under a state of emergency following Iranian missile attacks that caused casualties and widespread damage.

According to The Associated Press, Iranian missile and drone strikes have killed approximately 11 Israeli civilians and wounded dozens more in retaliation for the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran.

Shrapnel from missile impacts damaged at least 40 buildings in Tel Aviv, and authorities reported at least one death in the area from falling debris.

The Philippine Embassy in Israel confirmed the death of a Filipino national after a missile strike hit Tel Aviv on Saturday.

TOMAHAWKS, B-2 STEALTH BOMBERS AND ATTACK DRONES POUND OVER 1,000 IRANIAN TARGETS IN 24-HOUR BLITZ

People take shelter as Iran launched missiles and drones towards Israel following the US-Israeli attacks. ( Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“We enter our shelter once the siren is heard and stay there until the Home Front Command announces that we can leave,” Michael said.

“Usually, it is about 20 to 30 minutes — unless there are further sirens during our stay. Since yesterday morning, it has happened around 30 times.”

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog also visited an impact site in Tel Aviv Sunday, delivering a message of resilience.

“The people of Israel and the people of Iran can live in peace. The region can live in peace. But what undermines peace time and again is terror instigated by this Iranian regime,” Herzog said.

EXILED IRANIAN CROWN PRINCE SAYS US STRIKES MARK ‘BEGINNING OF THE VERY END’ FOR REGIME

Israeli emergency service officer walks past building debris at the scene of a Iranian missile attack. (Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP via Getty Images)

Following the reported killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and roughly 40 senior Iranian officials, Iran formed a provisional leadership council.

Iran named Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, President Masoud Pezeshkian and Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i to lead roles.

“The Supreme Leader did not complete the necessary groundwork regarding his own succession,” Michael added.

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“Pezeshkian will face very troubling challenges due to their heavy losses, severe disruptions to control and command systems, and the massive bombing and attacks across Iran, including Tehran,” he said.

“Even if this regime doesn’t collapse, it will never be able to reconstitute itself, recover or return to its previous position,” Michael added.

Emma Bussey is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Before joining Fox, she worked at The Telegraph with the U.S. overnight team, across desks including foreign, politics, news, sport and culture.

World

Israel FM says Europe too divided, slams Spanish PM

Published

5 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Israel FM says Europe too divided, slams Spanish PM

Israeli minister Gideon Sa’ar said Europe “does not have unified position” on what role it should play in Iran as European ministers sought to establish a joint approach Sunday.

As Israel and the United States conducted a joint military strike on Iran, leading to the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Europe was kept on the sidelines.

EU member states did not participate in the operation and, in some cases, they were not informed prior as it is customary among strategic allies.

Asked whether Israel sought to keep Europe on the margins, Sa’ar said internal divisions within EU member states had kept them out of critical exchanges of operational details, unlike the United States, which the minister described as his country’s greatest ally.

“In Europe, you have all kinds of approaches,” he told Euronews. “You have countries like the Czech Republic which is strongly supporting this operation and then you have Spain, which is standing with all the tyrants of the world.”

On Saturday, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez was among the most critical voices in Europe, suggesting the US-Israeli strikes on Iran risk plunging the region into total war.

“We reject the unilateral military action of the United States and Israel, which represents an escalation and contributes to a more uncertain and hostile international order,” Sánchez said Saturday. The Spanish PM reiterated that message on Sunday.

“We urge for de-escalation and call to respect international law in all conflicts,” Sánchez added. “You can be against a heinous regime, like the Iranian regime, while also rejecting a military intervention that is unjustified, dangerous and outside of international law.”

Sa’aar said Israel considers the operation “fully justified” citing the right to self-defense from a regime that “has called for the destruction of Israel” and lashed at the Spanish prime minister for sending an “anti-Israeli, anti-American message.”

“Read the statement, they are standing with Iran!” he added.

When asked if any of his European counterparts had manifested an interest in joining the military operation or provide support on the ground, Sa’ar said he held multiple exchanges with European ministers over the weekend and suggested that “if others want to join, they will know have to convey the message.”

On Sunday, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen appeared to back regime change in Iran in line with Israel and the US, saying that the “risk of further escalation is real. This is why a credible transition in Iran is urgently needed” in comments on Sunday.

Sa’ar told Euronews said the strategic strikes and the elimination of Khamenei alongside top regime commanders could “create the conditions to weaken the regime enough to allow the Iranians to take their future into their own hands”.

“The future leadership of Iran should be determined by the Iranian people through free elections. Our only requirement is that whoever comes to power in Iran must not pursue the destruction of Israel,” he said.

Watch the full interview on Euronews from 8pm CET