1. Team Project: Compensation and Benefits package

Strategic Compensation Case Analysis:

U.S. women’s soccer team’s wage discrimination lawsuit

In 2019, twenty-eight members of the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation. Players sued in March 2019 under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and they sought more than $66 million in damages.

The main complaints from the players involve claims of wage discrimination. The petitioners pointed out that men’s national team receives a $5,000 bonus for a loss in a friendly match, while women receive nothing for a loss or a draw. However, when the teams win, the men receive as much as $17,625, but women only receive $1,350. Further, in 2011, when the women placed second in their World Cup, they were awarded $1.8 million, split evenly among the 24 players on the team. The men’s team made it only to the round of 16 that year; however, they were awarded $5 million. In 2014, when Germany won the Men’s World Cup, the US team was awarded $35 million by FIFA, while the women received 5% of that for their Cup victory in 2015.

Their claims affect not only their paychecks but also where they play and how often, how they train, the medical treatment and coaching they receive, and even how they travel to matches. In May 2020, U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner summarily dismissed the unequal pay portion of the lawsuit.

Check the following links for additional background information on this lawsuit and context:

Judge Dismisses U.S. Women’s Soccer Equal Pay Case — Here’s Why (forbes.com)

https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states-usaw/story/4071258/uswnt-lawsuit-versus-us-soccer-explained-defining-the-pay-gapswhats-at-stake-for-both-sides

Instructions

Given the US-Canada proximity, assume that the Chief Executive Officer of the Canada Soccer Federation contracted your team as external management consultants and in the initial briefing meeting, the CEO mentioned that he expects your team to achieve the following 3 objectives:

1) Lead and guide the federation in doing a complete review of the US federation’s compensation strategies and comment on whether the federation’s current pay policies would be a good fit for the Canadian federation?

2) Had this been a Canadian case – what compensation policies and practices—salary, incentive plans, and benefits—would help to produce the employee behaviours federation needs to achieve?

3) What impact this potential future compensation plan will have on labour agreements with soccer players (both men and women) in Canada. In this question, focus on how can the Canadian federation incorporate the following legal considerations when formulating future strategies and plans?

· Employment/Labour laws

· Pay Equity Acts

· Human Rights Acts

· other legislation

· union agreements

Note: Conduct research to get information on the lawsuit and all other missing information (e.g., the Federation strategic goals). Make any appropriate assumptions that will not compromise the integrity or quality of the strategic analysis.

EXPECTATIONS: write a business report in a logical manner for the CEO of the United States Soccer Federation.

PAPER REQUIREMENTS – Whether students have fully understood the paper requirements. If all requirements are satisfactorily met/fulfilled. Whether or not all questions have been answered.

Your report must be concise Maximum of 1600 words excluding the cover page, references page, and appendices.

a. It must be well-written, but in lay terms so anyone can fully understand your reasoning.

b. Your overall grade will reflect the strength of your analysis (Follow the report rubric posted in week 0).

QUALITY AND VARIETY OF SOURCES– For your analysis to be robust you have to use at least 15 references – Google, Wikipedia will not be considered as authentic sources you will be marked down for using them. You can use company websites, Job Market analysis taken from Statista and other reliable sources.

FORMATTING -Your report must follow APA style of formatting, referencing, font style, line spacing, etc., must be used