My take is that this means that graduate students who have "assistantships" are students and employees. And just like undergrads who have "work-study" jobs at t

My take is that this means that graduate students who have "assistantships" are students and employees. And just like undergrads who have "work-study" jobs at the university, they should be eligible for the protections that come with labor law. An undergraduate scholarship is not comparable because it does not have a work requirement (or when they do have a requirement, it's a separately compensated thing, and the scholarship is not direct compensation for the work).