U.S Soccer Wage Discrimination

U.S Soccer Wage Discrimination

        Course Name: Business Ethics                                        Amanda Clutter

        Source:  The New York Times, March 31, 2016                        03/31/2016

        URL:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/01/sports/soccer/uswnt-us-women-carli-lloyd-alex-morgan-hope-solo-complain.html?_r=1

http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-womens-national-team-accuses-u-s-soccer-of-pay-discrimination-1459429306

        Five key prominent players of the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team have filed a federal complaint with wage discrimination. The complaint was filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for investigation for workplace discrimination after budget figures were released.  The players dispute that the women's team has helped with the income for the U.S Soccer just as much as the men's team did if not more. "The players lawyer (Jeffrey Kessler) state that they are paid far less than their counterparts on the men's national team."

         Although only players Carli Lloyd, Becky Sauerbrunn, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe and Hope Solo signed the complaint, they say they are "acting on behave of the entire women's team." "We have been quite patient over the years with the belief that the federation would do the right thing and compensate us fairly," states Lloyd. "We are the best in the world, have three World Cup championships, four Olympic championships, and the U.S.M.N.T." comments Solo.

         The women's national team players have disputed their pay, accommodations when traveling, and working conditions for several years. Legal actions were taken by the U.S Soccer against the national teams union, which has expired. The women soccer players are paid by salary and bonuses if they win of a small amount while the men are paid in salary, bonuses for winning and losing.  "The men and women players are required to perform identical work requirement, stated Kessler. Also the same number of matches and requirements with participating and making the World Cup teams.

         Claims have been made that the women have outplayed the men's team and have provided repeated success, unlike the men. They have brought in extensive amounts of revenue for the U.S. Soccer by setting records for attendance and television viewing that met an all-time record for a soccer game.

        It is unclear on how long this will take to resolve this matter. However, Kessler states that "this is the strongest case of discrimination against women athletes in violation of law that I have ever seen."

Works Cited

Das, Andrew. The New York Times. 31 March 2016. 2016 31 2016 .

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 2016 31 March .

         There's no doubt about it gender pay gap is still present in the workforce with women earning sometimes substantially less than their male colleagues in sports activities. Some may say, women's generally lower total earnings are a direct result of their work choices, not the fact of employers who discriminate by gender in determining pay or granting promotions.

         Based on this article I believe that there may be gender discrimination happening within the U.S. Soccer. Sometimes in sports women teams do not bring in as much revenue as the men's but this does not seem like the case. Although, there might need to be a base salary and bonuses based on how each team does. If the men's team brings in more money they receive more bonuses and same for the women's team.

         In the article, it states that the men get bonuses for losing and winning friendly matches anywhere from $5,000 to $17,625. However, the women only get $1,350 if they win and nothing for losses or ties. At some point, there has to be a more fair or equal boundary between the pay scales on this.  It the U.S. Soccer if offering loss bonuses for the men they would be required to offer it also to the men.