U.S. Women’s Soccer Team Files Wage Discrimination Claim Against U.S. Soccer

March 31, 2016

Five members of the U.S. women’s national soccer team have filed a wage-discrimination action against the U.S. Soccer Federation with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of the entire team.

The filing, citing figures from the USSF’s 2015 financial report, claims that despite the women’s team generating nearly $20 million more revenue last year than the U.S. men’s team, the women are paid almost four times less.

The EEOC will conduct an investigation and determine if its findings warrant compensation to the U.S. women’s team.

U.S. Soccer, after issuing a statement saying it was “disappointed” that the action was taken, issued a second statement Thursday afternoon saying it is “committed to and engaged” in negotiating a new CBA “that addresses compensation with the U.S. women’s national team “when the current CBA expires at the end of this year.”

Among the numbers cited in the EEOC filing are that the women would earn $99,000 each if they won 20 friendlies, the minimum number they are required to play in a year. But the men would likely earn $263,320 each for the same feat, and would get $100,000 even if they lost all 20 games. Additionally, the women get paid nothing for playing more than 20 games, while the men get between $5,000 and $17,625 for each game played beyond 20.

According to the figures, the pay for playing in the World Cup is also disparate. The U.S. women received a team total of $2 million when it won the World Cup last year in Canada. Yet when the U.S. men played in the World Cup in Brazil in 2014, the team earned a total of $9 million despite going just 1-2-1 and being knocked out in the round of 16.

The team, which has qualified for this summer’s Olympics in Brazil, is currently in Florida training for a pair of exhibition games against Colombia.

It will be interesting to see how this case plays out. Based off the reports cited in this article, it appears the women have a valid claim that is worth taking action over.

If you feel you are being treated differently from other employees at your workplace because of your gender, age, race, religion, pregnancy, disability or even a medical condition, you may be the victim of workplace discrimination. An experienced Florida Employment Lawyer at Whittel & Melton can review your case and help you understand whether you have an employment discrimination claim.

In these types of cases, the court has to answer the question of whether or not you are being treated differently in a way that is unlawful. From receiving unequal pay to being denied a higher position because of your gender, race, age, disability, or religious affiliation, these types of discriminatory actions occur quite regularly in the workplace. If you feel that you have been the victim of discrimination, please do not wait to contact our Florida Discrimination Employment Lawyer at Whittel & Melton for a free consultation to learn about the legal remedies that might be available to you. Call us today at 866-608-5529 or contact us online.