Women’s soccer claim of unequal pay tossed, can argue travel

By ANNE M. PETERSON and RONALD BLUM
May 1, 2020

A federal judge threw out the unequal pay claim by players on the U.S. women’s national soccer team but allowed their allegation of discriminatory travel accommodations and medical support services to go to trial.

Players led by Alex Morgan claim they have not been paid equally under their collective bargaining agreement to what the men’s national team receives under its labor deal and asked for more than $66 million in damages under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In a 32-page decision Friday, U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner granted in part a motion for summary judgment by the U.S. Soccer Federation. He threw out the Equal Pay Act allegations but left intact the Civil Rights Act claims.

“The history of negotiations between the parties demonstrates that the WNT rejected an offer to be paid under the same pay-to-play structure as the MNT, and the WNT was willing to forgo higher bonuses for benefits, such as greater base compensation and the guarantee of a higher number of contracted players,” Klausner wrote.

“Accordingly, plaintiffs cannot now retroactively deem their CBA worse than the MNT CBA by reference to what they would have made had they been paid under the MNT’s pay-to-play terms structure when they themselves rejected such a structure,” he said.

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