Unequal prizes for men and women: when it is illegal and whom to claim from

It is the law that makes it illegal to award women less than men at a competitive sports event paid for, in whole or in part, with public funds. It is short and very specific: it does not regulate every tournament, only those touching the Treasury, and it compares within equal categories.

Women athletes — a natural person or group of persons duly registered and qualified to participate, or who actually participate, in athletic and sporting meets or events — at competitive sports events that establish categories for prize purposes and receive public funds. Those bound are the recreational and sports organizations that organize and/or sponsor those events, with the exception of the Puerto Rico Olympic Committee.

• That the competitive sports event receive public funds, defined by the law as monies from the Treasury of Puerto Rico.Verified against the official source
• That the comparison be between men and women who are in equal categories.Verified against the official source
• That the organizer or sponsor not be the Puerto Rico Olympic Committee, expressly excepted.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: First: are public funds involved?

   It is the law’s trigger and worth settling first. “Public funds” are monies from the Treasury of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The sponsor definition reaches natural or legal persons, unions, brotherhoods, associations, private or public societies, corporations for profit or not, government agencies and public corporations that use public funds to stage a given sports event. The organizer definition adds municipalities and municipal or quasi-public corporations, for events sponsored in part or entirely with public funds.

2. 2

   Step 2: Second: are they equal categories?

   The law compares within the same category. The text declares it illegal to establish differences that discriminate unfavorably and unjustifiably against the woman “when they are in equal categories.” That is the statute’s limit, and saying it plainly avoids claims that will not prosper because they compare different things.

3. 3

   Step 3: The prize is not only the money

   The law defines “prize” as a trophy, medal, cash reward or material benefit granted to winners at sports events, according to categories pre-established by recreational and sports organizations. A smaller trophy or a lesser material benefit enters the comparison just as the cash purse does.

4. 4

   Step 4: The indirect counts too

   The article is deliberately broad: illegal are differences that, “directly or indirectly, in effect produce, purport to produce, communicate or promote lesser recognition or recognition of lesser importance” toward the woman participant than toward the man. Nobody has to say it; the effect suffices.

5. 5

   Step 5: The complaint goes to DRD, and the Secretary must investigate it

   The law does not leave it discretionary: the Secretary shall have the obligation to investigate every complaint filed at their office alleging a violation of this law’s provisions. In exercising those duties they may hold such public hearings as they deem necessary. They are also charged with overseeing compliance and authorized to adopt regulations.

6. 6

   Step 6: The penalties

   Any sponsor or organizer determined to have engaged in the illegal practice is subject to a penalty equal to double the amount of damages the act caused to the woman or collective entity of women athletes; or to a penalty of no less than three hundred (300) dollars at the Secretary’s discretion, where pecuniary damages cannot be determined. Note the law expressly contemplates a collective claim by a group of athletes.

The complaint is filed at the office of the Secretary of Sports and Recreation, who has the obligation to investigate it. The law confers jurisdiction on the Superior Court to grant, at the Secretary’s instance, the legal remedies necessary to give effect to its terms and to enforce the regulations, rules, orders and determinations the Secretary has issued. If your matter is how a minor is treated on a team, that is the young athletes’ bill of rights; if it is sex discrimination in employment, that is another guide.

• Claiming over a private tournament with no public funds: the law is triggered by Treasury money.
• Comparing different categories: the text compares when they are in equal categories.
• Thinking only the cash prize counts: the definition includes trophy, medal and material benefit.
• Believing an explicit statement of discrimination is needed: the law reaches the indirect and the effect.
• Forgetting the claim can be collective: the law names the collective entity of women athletes.
• Filing outside DRD: the law obliges the Secretary to investigate those filed at their office.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Recreación y Deportes (DRD)

  DRD

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov

• Department of Sports and Recreation

  DRD

  drd.pr.gov