Five Members of U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team File EEOC Claim

April 4th, 2016 by JBWK

Submitted by Attorney Elizabeth S. Olcott
The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team (“USWNT”) has been prominent in the news lately due to its status as the reigning Olympic gold medalists and Women’s World Cup champion. The USWNT made news again this week by filing a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”). The charge filed on March 30, 2016, alleges wage discrimination based on gender against U.S. Soccer. The players that filed with the EEOC claim that the players on the Women’s National Team are paid significantly less than the players on the Men’s National Soccer Team even though the USWNT claims to have generated much more money for U.S. Soccer than the Men’s National Team and players on both teams have equal work obligations.

Now that the five players on the USWNT have filed the charge of discrimination with the EEOC, their employer, U.S. Soccer, will have the opportunity to respond to the allegations. All parties involved could then attempt to mediate the charge of discrimination or the EEOC could go through with a complete investigation of the allegations of wage discrimination. We will keep you updated on the developments in the most recent gender-based wage discrimination claim within the professional sports arena.

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