With the seismic growth of women’s professional sports leagues, especially soccerit is crucial for clubs to ensure they remain as focused on labor rights and human resources as they are on winning.
This is the first in a three-part series on the specific topic of parental leave. This includes leave related to birth, adoption, foster care, miscarriage, and childbirth complications. This series is intended to be a high-level overview for organizations operating in the field of women’s professional sports.
This first blog covers the role of a CBA, a player contract and the club in relation to parental leave.
The next two blogs will get into the nitty-gritty of two important laws that organizations need to know: (1) the Family Medical Leave Actand (2) the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Constitutive documents: Standard player agreements and collective agreement
There are two general documents governing sports leagues: (1) the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and (2) the standard player agreements (SPA). As we will see below, in order to have a true understanding of the CBA, clubs must understand the SPA.
The ABC
The two major women’s sports leagues, the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) have CBAs. Both agreements deal with parental leave. (See WNBA-ABC and the NWSL ABC).
NWSL ABC
Since world Cup is upon us, let’s see what the NWSL CBA says about parental leave and pregnancy.
#1: Pregnancy leave. Article 9.8 of the ABC deals with pregnancy allowance and reads as follows:
A player who cannot return services required in the (Standard Player Contract) following the player’s pregnancy will receive 100% of the base salary that the player would have received under the (Standard Player Contract) if the player had returned the services required.
What are “required services”?
The first question to ask is what are these “required services”? The ABC asks us to examine NWSL Standard Player Agreement (SPA). The SPA does not define “required services”. Section 2, however, covers the general duties and responsibilities of a player.
Article 2(b) requires, among other things, the following from the athlete:
(1) “…dedicate all necessary time to the exercise of his duties as a player and promoter of football, the team and the NWSL…”
(2) “…faithfully, diligently and skillfully, and to the best of the player’s abilities, experience and talents, perform all tasks that may be required of the player…”
(3) “…the player must report to the team in good physical condition.”
This is a fairly broad definition of “services rendered”. If a player is unable to perform the above services “due to pregnancy”, she is entitled to this maternity leave pay.
Following a pregnancy
What is striking about this paragraph is that it covers situations “following a player’s pregnancy.” It should be noted that this is not simply “following childbirth”. This means that if a player experiences complications related to pregnancy or childbirth, including miscarriagethey are entitled to this benefit.
#2: Parental leave. Article 9.11 of the ABC relates to parental leave and reads as follows:
Any player who births or adoptions a child during the NWSL League season will be entitled to (a) up to (8) weeks paid at (100%) of the player’s base salary in the NWSL… or (b) the remaining term of the player’s SPA (which may be paid in part by a short term disability policy). Paid vacation will occur concurrently with any entitlement to unpaid leave in accordance with applicable federal and state law.
A few things to note about this parental leave policy:
- Host family. Although this collective bargaining agreement does not explicitly refer to foster care, organizations should remember that the FMLA provides protected leave for the placement of a child. We will discuss FMLA in the next blog.
- “…during the NWSL season. » Section 3 of the CBA defines the NWSL League season as “…the period in any year beginning on the first preseason date and ending on the NWSL Championship date.”
- Short-term incapacity. Short-term disability benefits and long-term disability benefits (collectively “disability benefits”) are crucial for organizations and stakeholders. Prudent organizations will educate their employees (athletes) about these benefits and why they are important.
- Paid leave must run at the same time as unpaid leave. The section above states that any paid leave, in this case parental leave, will run concurrently with other protected leave (such as FMLA). Organizations should be aware of other unpaid leave granted by law to employees (athletes). We will discuss this in the next blog.
CLUB CONSIDERATIONS
So what do league-wide documents mean for a club?
- Back office employees. While the CBA and player contracts cover players, clubs must ensure that their own back office employees (coaches, management, executive staff, etc.) are covered. Prudent clubs will have manuals that comply with applicable federal and state laws.
- As we briefly touched on above, it is essential that all employees (athletes) understand the benefits they can choose from, such as short-term and long-term disability. This is important for all employees, whether they give birth or not.
- State and federal law. Organizations should inquire about applicable state and federal laws that cover parental leave and leave related to birth, foster care, or adoption. Some states have specific parental leave laws. A CBA or player agreement does not relieve the club’s responsibility to adhere to state and federal laws. There are general laws that must be followed by all organizations.
