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The U.S. Women’s Soccer Team has settled its class action lawsuit over working conditions with the U.S. Soccer Federation, but the team’s fight for equal pay continues.
The U.S. Soccer Federation has agreed to implement policies providing the team with various working conditions that are equal to those of the men’s team, such as hotel accommodations, field surfaces, and charter flights, BuzzFeed News reported.
U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner approved the settlement Tuesday.
Under the terms of the settlement, the U.S. Soccer Federation agreed to provide “an equal number of charter flights” to the men’s and women’s teams.
The federation also will “follow specific guidelines” in choosing venues to make sure women’s team games take place at “top-tier venues” and require that the games be played on grass turf in nearly all circumstances.
Regarding professional support, the federation will be required to employ 18 to 21 operational and technical support professionals for each team, and the federation’s chief medical officer will provide both teams with medical support. In addition, both the men’s and women’s team will each have a team of physicians that will be made up of a coordinating physician and two to five other physicians.
Finally, the U.S. Soccer Federation will “maintain comparable budgets” for the men’s and women’s teams “for each fiscal year for hotel accommodations on a per-night, per-room basis,” the settlement notice says. The federation also will have specific guidelines to follow when selecting hotels to ensure the women’s team “stays in top-quality hotels.”
The settlement also dictates each of these policies will have a reporting requirement allowing the women’s team to monitor the federation’s compliance with the settlement terms.
The parties have agreed that if the federation and the men’s team “agree to a policy on any of these four topics that differs from the applicable policy agreed to here, the [C]lass can opt to accept these new policies over the existing ones,” the settlement notice says.
The settlement created a Class consisting of current or former members of the U.S. Senior Women’s National Soccer Team. An Injunctive Relief Class is made up of players on the team at the time of the final judgment or the date any appeals are resolved. A Damages Class consists of players who were team members any time between June 11, 2015, through Nov. 8, 2019.
The U.S. Soccer Federation has denied any wrongdoing, maintaining its position that it has not discriminated against the plaintiffs based on sex, regarding pay or working conditions, according to the settlement notice.
“We are pleased that the USWNT Players have fought for — and achieved — long overdue equal working conditions,” the players’ spokesperson Molly Levinson told BuzzFeed News.
The men’s and women’s teams have separate unions, collective bargaining agreements, and compensation structures, according to a New York Times report. The settlement over team working conditions is expected to be included in both teams’ collective bargaining agreements, with triggers that would make any gains by either team reciprocal in any future negotiations.
U.S. Soccer president and former player Cindy Parlow Cone said the settlement indicated the federation was willing “to find a new way forward” with the team and potentially avoid any further litigation, The New York Times reported.
However, the settlement does not resolve the team’s complaint that its players do not receive equal pay.
The judge dismissed that claim earlier this year by ruling the players did not have enough evidence to bring the case to trial, BuzzFeed News reported.
Judge Klausner’s ruling dismissing the women’s team’s equal pay claim also said the U.S. Soccer Federation had supported its contention the women’s team actually had earned more money than the men’s team in the years covered by the class action lawsuit, according to The New York Times.
Now that the players’ claim over working conditions has reached a resolution, Levinson said, the team will appeal that equal pay ruling.
What do you think of the team’s settlement agreement and plans to sue for equal pay? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.
The plaintiff is represented by Jeffrey L. Kessler, David G. Feher, Cardelle B. Spangler, Diana Hughes Leiden, and Jeanifer E. Parsigian of Winston & Strawn LLP.
The U.S. Women’s Soccer Team Working Conditions Class Action Lawsuit is Alex Morgan, et al. v. United States Soccer Federation Inc., Case No. 2:19-cv-01717-RGK-AGR, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division.
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