Footballer wins court case after pay cut while on maternity leave

Jean-Baptiste Sarrazin 11:08 p.m., January 18, 2023

In a column published on the Tribune's Player website, Icelandic footballer Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir denounced the behavior of her club Olympique Lyonnais during her maternity leave.

According to her, OL would have lowered her salary because of her absence.

A case that the player brought before the FIFA court and which sparked debate on the

program (every evening from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.).

In a decision of the dispute resolution chamber of the district court dating from May 2022, Olympique Lyonnais was ordered to pay around 82,000 euros to the Icelandic player, whose salary had dropped sharply from April 2021 and until the birth of her son, in November 2021. "It is part of my rights and it cannot be disputed, even by a club as big as Lyon", hammered the 32-year-old player.

"I hope it will make you think about the conditions of high-level sportswomen, how clubs should support them in their personal life project", reacted Claire Arnoux in

.

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"Historical Decision"

This success in front of Fifa "sounds like a guarantee of financial security for all players who want to have a child during their career", adds the one who now plays at Juventus Turin.

The world players' union (Fifpro), which accompanied the player in her legal proceedings, underlined a "historic decision", "the first of this type since the implementation of Fifa's maternity regulations in January 2021".

Fifa has in fact put in place various measures intended to protect players who decide to have a child during their career, for example requiring clubs to offer maternity leave "of at least 14 weeks, including eight after the birth" , paid "at least two-thirds of the contractual salary" of the player.

In the case of Sara Bjork Gunnarsdottir, the player had only received, according to the decision of the Fifa court, around 27,000 euros net of the 109,000 euros initially due.

Although she spent her pregnancy in Iceland in agreement with her club, the latter also had "the responsibility to offer her an alternative job" compatible with her pregnancy, according to the decision.

"I find it hard to believe that this club, so innovative, which has put the players so much forward, women's football forward, has done this", regretted journalist Claire Arnoux.

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Electroshock for Lyon?

"Fifa is now criticizing us for not having offered another job to Sara Bjork Gunnarsdottir during her sick leave and then her maternity leave when at the same time the law forbids us to do so in France and the player had expressly asked us to to be able to return to live in Iceland, which we accepted", reacted Olympique Lyonnais in a press release on Tuesday.

"We are proud to have counted Sara Bjork Gunnarsdottir in the workforce of Olympique Lyonnais. Our paths have separated for purely sporting reasons. If she wishes to help us today to further develop French law, we would be happy to be able to involve her in our efforts alongside Amel Majri to allow all athletes to fully experience their pregnancy as well as their return to competition", adds the club.

The left side or winger of OL Amel Majri, 29, became in July 2022 the first active French international to have a child.

Seriously injured in the left knee in October 2021 before her pregnancy, she replayed in the league on Saturday after more than fifteen months of absence.

"We can condemn Lyon in the sense that it is a big club and there is a lot of money. Now it has relied on French law, it is the treatment of social security that takes over but it is not the same wages as an average employee", however wanted to qualify Alain Roche following this affair.