The United States women's national team have settled their equal pay lawsuit with the US Soccer Federation for a total of $24 million.
The players will receive a lump sum payment after the suit is settled. The District Court will approve the distribution of this amount in a way proposed by the USWNT players. The USWNT players will receive an additional $2m into an account to benefit their post-career goals and charitable efforts related to women's and girls soccer. The player can apply for up to $50,000 from this fund.
The players on the USWNT will have to approve the new Collective Bargaining Agreement before the settlement can be reached. Final approval of the settlement by the District Court will be scheduled once this takes place. This will fully resolve the litigation according to a statement from the players.
The USWNT chat is on the FC Daily.
The issue of World Cup bonuses had long been a point of contention.
There is no real justice in this other than this will never happen again, according to Megan Rapinoe.
The settlement is an important step in righting the wrongs of the past, according to Rapinoe.
The players and their litigation team have achieved historic success in fighting discrimination perpetuated by the U.S. Soccer Federation. Although the settlement reached today is an incredible success, much work remains to be done, it said in a statement.
The players have long championed the equal pay fight for women's sports, and the settlement is a significant victory for them. At one point the equal pay portion of the lawsuit was dismissed, forcing the players to appeal, but in the end the players emerged with a considerable amount of money, even as the settlement amount was less than what the players were asking.
Rapinoe said that he was not a fan of roller coasters in real life. I thought we would win all the time. This is a victory for us. This is a win for the players for the next generation, for women's players around the world.
The USSF is bruised in both the pocketbook and the court of public opinion after the lawsuit. The chants of "Equal pay!" at the Women's World Cup final, won by the U.S. over the Netherlands, showed where fans sympathies lay. The organization will be happy to have the litigation behind it, which will allow it to move forward and repair its relationship with the USWNT. Cindy Parlow Cone was promised a promise.
I have said before that resolving the litigation is a top priority for me. I think I said it on day three of my presidency, and I continue to feel that way, according to Cone.
Settlement talks have been going on and off since the lawsuit was filed, but the previous weeks saw an increase in discussions. A hearing on March 7 gave some motivation to get a deal done.
Cone said that getting the players together was what made the final push across the line. I think everyone wants to move forward so that we can focus on other things.
The 28 national team players first filed the lawsuit in March of 2019. Equal pay and working conditions were the focus of the lawsuit, which was filed under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
In March of 2020 a legal filing by the USSF was made public, which increased the contentious nature of the suit. The players on the U.S. women's national team don't perform equal work because they don't have the ability to compete at the senior men's level. The weekend of March 5 is when the USSF president election will take place.
The equal pay claims were thrown out of the case by the US District Court Judge Gary Klausner in May of 2020. He ruled that each woman&s player made more money per game than their male counterpart during the class period. The Title VII claims related to working conditions, which included use of charter flights for travel, venue selection, amount of support staff and hotel accommodations, could move forward. The part of the suit that was settled out of court was in December of 2020.
The women argued that Judge Klausner was wrong to not look at the rates of pay and the fact that the women had to win more often than the men to receive their bonuses.
The men's and women's players are represented by separate unions and have different pay structures. The men operated under a pay-to-play model in which they were paid only if they were called into a national team camp and played in actual games.
16 players are currently signed to full-time contracts with the USSF on a salary of $100,000 per year, and the women operate under a hybrid system that1-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-6556 Even if they are not called up for a game or training camp, they are still paid. The women players receive benefits. The remaining women's players are called non-contract players and only get paid when they are called into the team.
The bonus structures in each contract were the main sticking point. A woman would make $37,500 more than a man if they made a World Cup team. A win by the USMNT against a team outside the top 25 in the rankings will result in a bonus of $9,375 for the player and a loss will result in a payment of $5,000. A win against a team ranked outside the top eight will give each player $5,250 and nothing for a loss. A woman would make $110,000 if the World Cup were to be won by a male player.
The players preferred a structure with guaranteed salaries and the USSF argued that the women's contract was collectively bargained. The USSF said that it had no control over the bonuses that were paid to the men's and women's World Cup winning teams, and that it would bankrupt the Federation if it were forced to pay what the women were asking for. The women said that the differences in bonuses showed that they were being discriminated against.
The USSF still has work to be done. The work can be completed by the end of the month.
Cone said that there was a lot of work to be done and that they needed to come to a solution on the agreements. The focus is now on growing the game from a commercial perspective with our strategic partners, and having the players on our side to encourage FIFA to equalize the World Cup prize money.
Rapinoe is prepared to take the equal pay fight to FIFA.
Rapinoe said that for a long time, the World Cup bonus was passed along to us. Both of us can go to FIFA for how unfair the prize money is, not just the resources and the investment, but the care and effort put towards the women's game.
I am looking forward to being a part of that change.
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