U.S. women's national soccer team, U.S. Soccer reach working conditions settlement

For the first time in almost two years, the U.S. women’s national soccer team and its governing body have reached a point of agreement.

The women’s team and the U.S. Soccer Federation have reached a settlement on the working conditions claims of the team’s equal pay and gender discrimination lawsuit, according to documents filed in a California federal court. The agreement resolves issues the team raised about differences in travel, hotel accommodations, staffing and even venues of play between the women’s and men’s national teams, but does not specifically address previous working conditions.

The sport’s national governing body already started making changes to disparities in working conditions, but has also agreed to implement the details of the settlement as soon as they are approved.

“We are pleased that the USWNT Players have fought for — and achieved — long overdue equal working conditions,” team spokesperson Molly Levinson said in a statement. “We now intend to file our appeal to the Court’s decision which does not account for the central fact that in this case that women players have been paid at lesser rates than men who do the same job.”

The settlement, though it did not include the team’s key claims of equal pay, opens the door for the players to appeal their lawsuit, which was dismissed by a judge in May.

“We remain as committed as ever to our work to achieve the equal pay that we legally deserve,” Levinson continued. “Our focus is on the future and ensuring we leave the game a better place for the next generation of women who will play for this team and this country.”

The U.S. women’s national soccer team suffered a major setback in its gender discrimination lawsuit when Judge R. Gary Klausner dismissed the team’s unequal pay claims. Klausner — who granted the team class action status in November of 2019 — ruled the team had been paid more than the U.S. men’s national soccer team and played more games than the men’s team within the same class period and had rejected an offer in 2017 to have a “pay-to-play” structure similar to the men’s team’s CBA.

The dismissal of the equal pay claims, however disheartening, never stopped the women’s team from fighting, and on Tuesday, there emerged a clearer path forward with new leadership at the Federation.

“This is an important and welcome moment for U.S. Soccer and the Women’s National Team players,” new Federation president Cindy Parlow-Cone, a former WNT player, said in a statement. “We, and the rest of the leadership team at U.S. Soccer, are focused on taking a new approach at the Federation in handling all matters. I believe our approach has helped us reach this agreement and demonstrates the commitment of U.S. Soccer’s new leadership to find a new way forward with the USWNT.

“This settlement is good news for everyone and I think will serve as a springboard for continued progress.”

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