The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced Friday that it would publish a withdrawal notice by 15th March in the Federal Register withdrawing a proposed rule regarding the non-employee status of university and college students working in connection with their studies for compensation.

The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register in September 2019 and was corrected in October 2019. According to the rule, “students who perform any services for compensation, including, but not limited to, teaching or research, at a private college or university in connection with their studies are not ‘‘employees’’ within the meaning of Section 2(3) of the National Labor Relations Act.”

The rule was proposed to bring stability to an area of federal labor law in which the NLRB has reversed its approach several times in the past.

The NLRB has now decided to withdraw the rule by citing the following reason,

The Board has decided to withdraw this rulemaking proceeding based on its judgment respecting the most effective allocation of the Board’s limited resources at this time. In light of competing agency priorities, the Board has determined to focus its time and resources on the adjudication of cases currently in progress.