Obama May Relax Statute of Limitations Concerning Employment Discrimination Laws
A New York Times article published on January 4, 2009 discussed the possibility that President-elect Barack Obama may move quickly to revive legislation that would negate the Supreme Court’s decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire Company, Inc. 550U.S. 618, 127 S.C. 2162 (2007), in which the Supreme Court ruled that discriminatory acts triggering the time limits for filing an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charge could only be unique discriminatory pay decisions, and not later pay decisions perpetuating the earlier discriminatory acts. In this case, Lilly M. Ledbetter argued that she had been discriminated against on the basis of her gender when she was given discriminatory performance evaluations that resulted in lower pay than her male co-workers, and that each discriminatory paycheck she received thereafter was a discrete violation of the law. The Court, however, ruled that “A new violation does not occur, and a new charging period does not commence, upon the occurrence of subsequent nondiscriminatory acts that entail adverse effects resulting from past discrimination.” (Ledbetter at 2164).
Justice Ginsberg was joined by three other dissenting judges who argued that the Court’s decision reflected a “cramped interpretation of Title VII, incompatible with the statute’s broad remedial purpose.” (Ledbetter at 2188). The bill that Mr. Obama co-sponsored would have remedied any such interpretation by stipulating that each time a person receives a paycheck resulting from a decision motivated by a discriminatory bias (e.g., gender), that is a violation under the civil rights laws. Although the bill passed in the House, it was just short of enough supporting votes in the Senate. Mr. Obama and the Democratic supporters of the bill are confident that the bill would now pass in the Senate, and thus, victims of employment discrimination may be able to revive claims that otherwise would have been considered untimely. Schwartz & Perry LLP views this as a positive change and much more in line with the broad remedial purposes of civil rights laws aimed at eliminating employment discrimination.
