Nike to Change Pregnancy Policy in Athlete Contracts
19 May 2019 - 9:04AM
Dow Jones News
By Khadeeja Safdar
Nike Inc. said it is adding language to new contracts for female
athletes that will protect their pay during pregnancy, after coming
under fire for cutting compensation for some athletes.
The sneaker giant said Friday it had adopted the policy last
year but was now writing the terms into its future endorsement
deals. Previously, the contracts gave Nike the right to reduce pay
if runners failed to meet performance thresholds for any reason,
including pregnancy or childbirth.
Although Nike isn't changing existing contracts, the company
said current athletes would receive similar protections. "We will
provide appropriate assurances for existing contracts to reinforce
our policy," a Nike spokesman said Friday.
The move comes days after one of its former runners, Alysia
Montaño, criticized Nike and its rivals for their policies around
pregnancy.
In an op-ed published in the New York Times, Ms. Montaño said
that when she told Nike several years ago that she wanted to have a
baby during her career, the company told her it would pause her
contract and stop paying her. She changed sponsors and signed with
Asics.
"The sports industry allows for men to have a full career and
when a woman decides to have a baby it pushes women out at their
prime," she said in a video published on Mother's Day.
On Saturday, Ms. Montaño, an Olympian and U.S. national
champion, said she was pleased that Nike was adding protections in
new contracts, but questioned the company's assurances for existing
athletes. "If they get pregnant, are they just supposed to take
Nike's word for it?" she said.
After switching sponsors, she famously competed in the 2014 U.S.
championships when she was eight months pregnant. Following the
birth of her daughter, she said that Asics also threatened to end
her contract.
She had received assurances from Asics, she said, but those
weren't enough. "Because it wasn't in my contract, they threatened
to penalize me," she said in an interview Saturday. "I had to fight
for my money."
Ms. Montaño said she is still waiting for Asics and other brands
to provide more clarity on whether they are changing their
contracts. "They are being let off the hook," she said.
Nike acknowledged it had reduced pay for a few female athletes,
but said that last year it changed its policies so women would no
longer be penalized financially for pregnancy. However, that change
wasn't written into contracts.
"Moving forward, our contracts for female athletes will include
written terms that reinforce our policy," the Nike spokesman said.
"We recognize we can do more and that there is an important
opportunity for the sports industry to evolve to support female
athletes."
A spokesman for Asics said the company "honors the contracts of
our athletes during the duration of their pregnancy and return to
competition."
Write to Khadeeja Safdar at khadeeja.safdar@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 18, 2019 18:49 ET (22:49 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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