Congresswoman Hirono Votes to Fight Pay Discrimination
and Rectify Flawed Supreme Court Decision
House Labor Committee Passes Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
WASHINGTON, D.C.— By a party line vote of 25 Democrats to 20 Republicans, the House Education and Labor Committee passed legislation today to rectify a recent Supreme Court ruling that made it harder for workers to pursue pay discrimination claims.
“The recent Supreme Court decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear opened the door to widespread pay discrimination,” said Rep. Mazie Hirono, member of the committee. “Today we passed a bill that ensures workers do have the right to fight back when they discover that they are being treated unfairly.”
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act would clarify that every paycheck or other compensation resulting, in whole or in part, from an earlier discriminatory pay decision constitutes a violation of the Civil Rights Act. As long as workers file their charges within 180 days of a discriminatory paycheck, their charges would be considered timely.
The legislation would also clarify that, once a worker files a charge, he or she needs not keep filing new charges with each new paycheck.
The legislation would make it clear that employees who are victims of discrimination are entitled to up to two years of back pay, as already provided in the Civil Rights Act.
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act would apply to workers who file claims of discrimination on the basis of race, sex, color, national origin, religion, age, or disability.
Lilly Ledbetter worked for nearly 20 years at a Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company facility in Alabama. She sued the company after learning that she was paid less then her male counterparts at the facility, despite having more experience than several of them. A jury found that her employer had unlawfully discriminated against her on the basis of sex.
However, the Supreme Court said that Ledbetter had waited too long to sue for pay discrimination, despite the fact that she filed a charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as soon as she received an anonymous note alerting her to pay discrimination.
While Ledbetter filed her charge within 180 days of receiving discriminatory pay, the court ruled that, since Ledbetter did not raise a claim within 180 days of the employer’s decision to pay her less, she could not receive any relief. Employees in Ledbetter’s position would be forced to live with discriminatory paychecks for the rest of their careers under this Supreme Court decision.
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