Corinne Ramey

Lilly Ledbetter Loses a Lawsuit but Lands New Labor Legislation

Blog Post About DMI's TheMiddleClass.org

Lilly Ledbetter was a good worker. An area manager at a Goodyear Tire plant in Alabama, she worked for the company for nearly twenty years before retiring in 1998 and received a "Top Performance" award from Goodyear in 1996 for her work.

But Ledbetter didn't earn as much as other workers in similar positions. While other area managers earned between $4,286 and $5,236 each month in 1997, Ledbetter was only making $3,727 a month during that same year. Why wasn't Ledbetter earning as much as her colleagues?

Because she's a woman, and those other area managers were men.

When Ledbetter found out that she was being paid so much less than her male counterparts she went to court, filing for pay discrimination. As DMI's Year in Review says,

"In Ledbetter v. Goodyear, the Court’s majority found that complaints of pay discrimination must be filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission within 180 days of the first discriminatory act. The problem? Since workplaces frequently prohibit employees from even discussing how much they’re paid, many aren’t aware they’ve been discriminated against until it’s been going on for years. By that time, according to the Court, it is simply too late to complain.... The Court ruled that she had no recourse within the law because she failed to register her complaint within 180 days of her first paycheck."

Luckily for Ledbetter and for the rest of American women, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was introduced in Congress in June of this year. The act dictates when discriminatory actions are an "unlawful employment practice" by clarifying the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other existing anti-discrimination legislation. According to the act, unlawful conduct occurs when an individual is subject to decisions or practices, a discriminatory practice is adopted, or an individual is affected by a practice, including each time a worker is paid. Individuals can receive compensation pay for discrimination that happened two years before filing a charge. Under the new law, Ledbetter would have been discriminated against each time she was issued a paycheck, not just that first time when she was payed less than her male counterparts. The Fair Pay Act restores the traditional interpretation of the law before it was overturned by the Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Supreme Court decision.

According to TheMiddleClass.org,

"Current and aspiring middle-class Americans need the protection of strong anti-discrimination laws to ensure that they are treated fairly by employers. But the mere existence of these laws is not sufficient: the practical ability to enforce them in a meaningful way is crucial. By clarifying a technicality in employment discrimination law, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act deters discriminatory practices in the workplace and ensures that when discrimination does occur, wronged employees can receive fair compensation."

It's not just Ledbetter who needs this legislation. According to the U.S. Census, in 2006 the medial annual earning for full-time, year-round, male workers was $42,261, whereas the same figure for full-time female workers was only $32, 515. Many workers are unaware of their coworkers' salaries, so wage discrimination can go unnoticed for years. According to Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office, "Many employers prohibit workers from discussing their salaries, making it that much more difficult to uncover wage discrimination. Employers who pay their workers unequally should not be allowed a ‘get out of jail free’ card because they’re able to keep the decision to discriminate secret for more than 180 days."

The bill isn't law yet. Although it passed in the House, the bill's counterpart in the Senate -- called the Fair Pay Restoration Act -- is still making it's way through the legislative process. Both bills have the potential to make life more fair for American workers, if and when they are enforced to prohibit discrimination.

Corinne Ramey: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 3:38 PM, Dec 12, 2007 in TheMiddleClass.org
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