$24 million settlement in USWNT's equal pay lawsuit gets preliminary approval by federal judge

The U.S. women’s national soccer team's long fight for equal pay is all but over.

A federal judge on Thursday granted preliminary approval to a $24 million settlement in the USWNT’s equal pay lawsuit against U.S. Soccer, declaring it “fair, adequate and reasonable.” A hearing to grant final approval is scheduled for Dec. 5 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

“We are pleased that the court granted preliminary approval for the historic equal pay resolution today and we look forward to celebrating this hard-fought victory for women and girls at the final hearing in December,” Molly Levinson, spokeswoman for the U.S. women, said in a statement.

“Our work has only just begun,” Levinson added, “because there are too many workplaces in the world where women are valued and paid less than men for doing the same work. We won’t stop fighting for what is fair, right and equal.”

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The approval was granted by federal judge R. Gary Klausner, the same judge who in May 2020 dismissed the USWNT’s equal pay claims. Klausner ruled that during the time covered by the lawsuit, filed in March 2019, the USWNT had actually made more than the U.S. men — even though that was the result of the women playing more games and having more success.

The USWNT appealed Klausner’s ruling, and negotiations with U.S. Soccer continued. On Feb. 22, both sides announced that they had reached agreement on a settlement that would pay the players $22 million. U.S. Soccer also agreed to put $2 million into a fund that players can use for charitable efforts after their careers end.

“Most significantly, the unopposed settlement agreement accomplishes Plaintiffs’ goal for litigation: equal pay,” Klausner wrote.

The settlement was contingent upon a new collective bargaining agreement, and on May 18 both national teams and U.S. Soccer announced landmark deals that would pay both squads equally — including an even split of World Cup prize money. While other national federations give their men’s and women’s teams equal base pay, no other country has gone as far in splitting World Cup prize money.

With the new CBA already in effect, official resolution of the equal pay lawsuit is all that is left in the U.S. women’s decades-long and often rancorous fight for equality. Come December, the battle — this particular one, at least — will come to an end.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: USWNT's decades-long fight for equal pay nearing an end