#EachforEqual Celebration Features Insights from the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team Lawsuit

Winston & Strawn’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee and Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) affinity group were pleased to present a Women’s History Month/International Women’s Day program on March 6. It featured a discussion with Winston Partners Jeffrey Kessler and Cardelle Spangler about their representation of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team players in their historic gender discrimination lawsuit against their employer, the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF).

Director of Diversity & Inclusion Sylvia James kicked off the program with a call for all offices to submit group photos featuring purple attire and the #EachforEqual pose, and firmwide WLI Chair Paula Hinton noted the firm’s ERA ratification efforts and introduced the speakers.

Kessler, Winston’s co-executive chairman and co-chair of the Sports Law practice, began the program with a history of the dispute between USSF and the women’s team. After USSF refused players’ demands for equal pay during the collective bargaining process in 2016, we filed a complaint before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). “It wasn’t only that the women did equal work to the men, they performed better than the men,” he said. “And yet they had the opportunity to earn less compensation and their working conditions were not equal.”

Spangler, a partner in the firm’s Labor & Employment practice group, explained that the players decided they could not wait any longer for administrative relief, and filed class actions under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on International Women’s Day 2019. “Our case checks all the boxes for establishing the burden for sex discrimination”, Spangler said. “We can show plaintiffs are a protected class (women), they were paid less than the men, and were treated disparately.”

USSF has advanced a number of justifications for the unequal pay, explained Kessler, from its claim that the men would generate more revenues than the women to its statement that the women were actually paid more during the time period covered by the suit. “This is a true, but that’s because the women won many more games than the men – and got bonuses for winning – and they made the World Cup, while the men did not.” As another justification, USSF has consistently asked our clients: “isn’t it true that men are stronger, faster, and more athletic than women and therefore are better soccer players than women?” The players’ response: “No. What you look at is the complete player.” “We find this one particularly offensive,” Spangler said.

The program, which qualified for CLE credit, also covered the differences in legal requirements of the Equal Pay Act and Title VII and the various classes for back pay, punitive, and nominal damages, and injunctive relief in our case against USSF. Kessler and Spangler presented the intricacies of the defenses USSF has advanced, and why they believe the women will ultimately prevail on their claims. They concluded with an update on the current status of the case, which is scheduled to go to trial in California on May 5, 2020.

“Our case has brought to the forefront some really persistent issues that women have difficulty overcoming,” Spangler said, “and a number of other countries have taken actions to make their men’s and women’s teams equal in terms of compensation. This has been a really wonderful effect but we’re hoping to go much farther.”

Many of the 450+ firm members who attended live in New York and by videoconference around the globe wore purple in recognition of the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. We were pleased to welcome the more than 100 clients, alumni, and friends who also tuned in.

Click here for more photos from Women’s History Month/International Women’s Day.

This Heritage Month program was part of Winston’s annual series that celebrates the diversity that exists at the firm and helps foster an inclusive work environment. Visit our Diversity & Inclusion page for more information.