A WIN

Judge Grants Class-Action Status to U.S. Women’s Soccer Equal Pay Lawsuit

“Nice try,” Megan Rapinoe said of U.S. Soccer Federation's arguments against the lawsuit's class-action status.

A judge granted the U.S. women’s national soccer team’s equal pay lawsuit class-action status on Friday, allowing any woman that had appeared in a national team camp or game over a multi-year period to get involved in the lawsuit. According to The New York Times, the players who brought the gender discrimination suit forward had been fighting for class-action status since September. They argued that the alleged conditions and unfair compensation applied to more than the suit's named plaintiffs. “Sometimes it’s just nice for someone to say, ‘I believe you and I am validating what you’ve been saying,’” Megan Rapinoe, one of the team's captains and a plaintiff, told the Times. “We have an internal belief in what we’re doing. But to have someone, and in this case someone very important in this case, say, ‘I believe what you’re saying,’ is very important.” In his ruling, Judge R. Gary Klausner rejected the argument of the U.S. Soccer Federation—which posited that there was no discrimination under federal law because many of the women had earned more than the men's top-earners in a certain period. “Nice try,” Rapinoe said of the argument. “No one bought it.” U.S. Soccer has not spoken publicly on the matter.