This past week, I attended a Rose Cafe with speaker Angela Cornell, a professor at Cornell Law. She is an expert on labor law and focused her discussion on Colin Kaepernick’s protest in the NFL. We all discussed the pros and cons of the protest, the NFL’s response, and Kaepernick’s collusion lawsuit that has recently been launched. As a big football fan, the whole situation has been interesting to follow. However, the most interesting part of this discussion was how labor law fits into this. Since I know way less about labor law than football, I learned way more from this part of the discussion than from any other part. I was under the impression that the NFL, as a private company, can do whatever it wants regarding the handling of its employees. However, there was an act passed by FDR at the end of the Great Depression which forces businesses to follow certain guidelines when handling their employees, particularly in unionized industries. Since sports are unionized, it is unclear whether or not the NFL handled the Kaepernick situation properly, since they did not consult the NFLPA on their actions, the legality of the actions is in question. While I am still not an expert on the laws governing businesses and labor, I do know that this situation is very intriguing and, as the lawsuit continues, will be one to watch closely.