U.S. Women’s Soccer Team’s Wage Discrimination Lawsuit – Case Study – Law Assignment Help

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Strategic Compensation Case Analysis: U.S. women’s soccer team’s wage discrimination lawsuit

In 2019, twenty-eight members of the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation. Players sued in March 2019 under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and they sought more than $66 million in damages. The main complaints from the players involve claims of wage discrimination. The petitioners pointed out that men’s national team receives a $5,000 bonus for a loss in a friendly match, while women receive nothing for a loss or a draw. However, when the teams win, the men receive as much as $17,625, but women only receive $1,350. Further, in 2011, when the women placed second in their World Cup, they were awarded $1.8 million, split evenly among the 24 players on the team. The men’s team made it only to the round of 16 that year; however, they were awarded $5 million. In 2014, when Germany won the Men’s World Cup, the US team was awarded $35 million by FIFA, while the women received 5% of that for their Cup victory in 2015.

Their claims affect not only their paychecks but also where they play and how often, how they train, the medical treatment and coaching they receive, and even how they travel to matches. In May 2020, U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner summarily dismissed the unequal pay portion of the lawsuit.