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Women’s National Soccer Team Pay Dispute Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: The U.S. Soccer Federation is arguing that a recent Fourth Circuit ruling is not relevant to its current dispute with the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team.
- Why: Women’s soccer players claim they are unfairly paid in comparison to their male counterparts.
- Where: The case is being heard in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The U.S. Soccer Federation is on the defensive following a ruling in the Fourth Circuit regarding the Equal Pay Act and gender-based wage discrimination as its dispute with the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team is heard in the Ninth Circuit.
The Fourth Circuit determined on Dec. 3 that the proper standard for settling sex-based wage discrimination is an underlying pay rate — not total compensation, Law360 reports.
The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, meanwhile, claims sex-based wage discrimination on the part of U.S. Soccer forces female players to vastly outperform their male counterparts to receive equal pay.
U.S. Soccer is now trying to get ahead of the Fourth Circuit’s decision, arguing its case with the Women’s National Soccer Team is not relevant to its determination, which it says is based on salaries paid uniquely to male and female workers, Law360 reports.
Men’s and women’s soccer players are instead compensated in a variety ways, U.S. Soccer argues, including in bonuses, benefits and wages and through separate union deals.
Women’s Soccer Players Claim Their COmpensation is Unfair Compared to Male Counterparts
Women’s soccer players — including Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe — filed a $67 million lawsuit against U.S. Soccer back in 2019, arguing their compensation is unfair compared to that of their male counterparts.
A federal judge in California sided with U.S. Soccer in May 2020, determining that the women players actually get paid more on average per game than the men, Law360 reports.
The women’s players countered, however, that women receive less bonuses for winning games and that their pay was only similar because they won 30% more of their matches.
U.S. Soccer countered that their bonuses were only lower because that is how their union decided to set up their pay structures, whereas the men chose to focus more on incentive pay in their collective bargaining agreement, Law360 reports.
Do you believe women’s soccer players get unfairly compensated in comparison to their male counterparts? Let us know in the comments!
The plaintiffs are represented by Jeffrey L. Kessler, David G. Feher, Cardelle B. Spangler, Jeanifer E. Parsigian and Diana Hughes Leiden of Winston & Strawn LLP, and Nicole A. Saharsky, Carmen Longoria-Green, Minh Nguyen-Dang and Michael A. Scodro of Mayer Brown LLP.
The Women’s National Soccer Team Pay Dispute Lawsuit is Morgan, et al. v. U.S. Soccer Federation Inc., Case No. 21-55356, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
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