{"id":12708,"date":"2019-12-09T18:31:14","date_gmt":"2019-12-09T23:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/?p=12708"},"modified":"2019-12-09T18:31:14","modified_gmt":"2019-12-09T23:31:14","slug":"u-s-womens-soccer-team-granted-motion-for-class-certification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/2019\/12\/09\/u-s-womens-soccer-team-granted-motion-for-class-certification\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Women\u2019s Soccer Team Granted Motion for Class Certification"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Photo provided courtesy of Pixabay.<\/center><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By David McPeak, Staff Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n

The U.S. Senior Women\u2019s National Soccer Team (WNT) has been granted class certification in their pay discrimination suit against the United States Soccer Federation (USSF).[1]<\/sup><\/a> The order certifying class action status allows any potential plaintiff who was a player on or since March 8, 2016\u00a0 to join the dispute on a representative, rather than individual basis.[2]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 The order appoints players Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Carlie Lloyd, and Becky Saurebrunn as Class Representatives.[3]<\/sup><\/a> The complaint filed in U.S. District Court alleges violations of both the Equal Pay Act (EPA) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.[4]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 The allegations against USSF relate to the rate of pay and working conditions female soccer players received compared to their male counterparts on the Men\u2019s National Team (MNT).[5]<\/sup><\/a> The complaint accuses USSF of \u201cperpetuating gender-based discrimination against plaintiffs . . .\u00a0 in nearly every aspect of their employment.\u201d[6]<\/sup><\/a> The complaint further contends that WNT players are required to perform the same job duties that require equal skill, effort and responsibilities performed under similar working conditions as the male MNT players.\u201d[7]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

USSF argues that WNT players have not been subject to discrimination under the EPA or Title VII \u201c[b]ecause each of them made significantly more money than the highest paid MNT player over the course of the limitations period of 2014-2019.\u201d[8]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 For instance, Alex Morgan was paid $1.5 million during this period as compared to the highest-earning men\u2019s player who was paid $993,967.[9]<\/sup><\/a> The WNT complaint asserts that while overall compensation during the period is higher, the basis for their gender discrimination claim is the rate of female team member pay.[10]<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0If subject to the men\u2019s pay agreement, WNT claims that Morgan would have made $4.1 million for the same performance [11]<\/sup><\/a> USSF answers that any differences in pay rates are resultant of \u201c[d]ifferences in the aggregate revenue generated by the different teams and the terms agreed to in their respective collective bargaining agreements.\u201d[12]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Gary Klausner disagreed with USSF\u2019s argument that WNT players could not have suffered injury where their total pay exceeds MNT players.[13]<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0Stating that courts have previously rejected similar arguments when interpreting the EPA and Title VII, \u201c[t]his would mean that an employer who pays a woman $10 per hour and a man $20 per hour would not violate the EPA as long as the woman negated the obvious disparity by working twice as many hours.\u201d[4]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

WNT players also allege USSF gender discrimination in working conditions such as: (1) subjecting WNT to matches on inferior surfaces more frequently than it does for the MNT; (2) provides the WNT with charter flights less frequently than it does for the MNT; (3) allocates fewer resources promoting WNT games than it does promoting MNT games; and (4) sets ticket prices to WNT games at lower price than for MNT games.[15]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 USSF asserted these claims are insufficient to show standing for class certification as they are too general and hypothetical.[16]<\/sup><\/a> Again, the court disagreed, calling the failure to provide the WNT with equal working conditions a \u201creal\u201d and not abstract injury.[17]<\/sup><\/a> The lawsuit has now moved to discovery, and a trial is scheduled to begin May 5, 2020.[18]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

\n

[1]<\/a> Female Soccer Players Granted Class Certification In Equal Pay Lawsuit<\/em>, 19-18 Mealey’s Litig. Rep. Class Actions 1 (2019).<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Order Granting Pl.\u2019s Motion for Class Certification at 13, Nov. 8, 2019, No. 2:19-cv-01717<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Id.<\/em> at 15.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Id.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Id.<\/em> at 2.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Pl.\u2019s Compl. at \u00b638, Mar. 8, 2019, No. 2:19-cv-01717.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Id.<\/em> at 39.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Defs.\u2019 Opposition to Pl.\u2019s Motion For Class Certification at 3, Oct. 21, 2019, No. 2:19-cv-01717.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/strong><\/em><\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Pl.\u2019s Compl. at \u00b6104, Mar. 8, 2019, No. 2:19-cv-01717.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Sally Jenkins, Unequal Pay Will Soon Be Costly For U.S. Soccer<\/em>, Wash. Post, Nov. 13, 2019 at D01.<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> Emily Kaplan, U.S. Women\u2019s Soccer Equal Pay Fight: What\u2019s The Latest, and What\u2019s Next? Nov. 14 2019 https:\/\/www.espn.com\/sports\/soccer\/story\/_\/id\/27175927\/us-women-soccer-equal-pay-fight-latest-next.<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> Order Granting Pl.\u2019s Motion for Class Certification at 5, Nov. 8, 2019, No. 2:19-cv-01717.<\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> Id. <\/em>at 6.<\/p>\n

[15]<\/a> Id.<\/p>\n

[16]<\/a> Defs.\u2019 Opposition to Pl.\u2019s Motion For Class Certification at 15, Oct. 21, 2019, No. 2:19-cv-01717.<\/p>\n

[17]<\/a> Order Granting Pl.\u2019s Motion for Class Certification at 6, Nov. 8, 2019, No. 2:19-cv-01717.<\/p>\n

[18]<\/a> Sally Jenkins, supra.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By David McPeak, Staff Writer The U.S. Senior Women\u2019s National Soccer Team (WNT) has been granted class certification in their pay discrimination suit against the United States Soccer Federation (USSF).[1] The order certifying class action status allows any potential plaintiff who was a player on or since March 8, 2016\u00a0 [\u2026] <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12709,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,4],"tags":[2991,3069,2828,761,3067,3068],"class_list":["post-12708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-juris-blog","category-posts","tag-david-mcpeak","tag-equal-pay","tag-equal-pay-act","tag-soccer","tag-womens-national-soccer-team","tag-womens-right"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12708"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12710,"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12708\/revisions\/12710"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}