Two Bills Designed to Control Workplace Gender-Based Pay Discrimination Pass the House
Victims of employment discrimination got a boost when the House passed two related bills on Friday, January 9, 2009, confirming that the new Congress will make human rights a priority. One bill, approved 247 to 171 gives workers more time to file lawsuits claiming employment discrimination. The other bill, entitled the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, would overturn a 2007 decision by the United States Supreme Court, which enforced a strict 180-day deadline for filing suit in an equal pay case, which caused Lilly M. Ledbetter’s case against Goodyear Tire Company to be dismissed. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act would ensure that every paycheck or other compensation resulting 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. This was the law prior to the Supreme Court’s May 2007 decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire Company, Inc. The Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is very important to ensuring that employers can be held accountable for discriminatory pay decisions.
