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Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to Become Law Tomorrow

Posted on January 28th, 2009 by Tim Eavenson | No Comments »
Filed under: ., Discrimination, HR Issues, Politics | Print This Post

[More coverage: President Obama Signs Ledbetter Fair Pay Act]

Yesterday, the House voted 250-177 to send the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to the President’s desk.  According to the San Francisco Chronicle, President Obama has indicated he will sign the bill tomorrow, making it the first major legislation approved under his tenure.

Named for the Plaintiff in a Supreme Court case the law effectively overturns, The Ledbetter Act alters the major discrimination laws – Title VII, the ADA, ADEA and the Rehabilitation Act – to make clear that each unequal paycheck an employee receives is a new discriminatory act, effectively continuing the statute of limitations for as long as the person is employed or receiving benefits from the company.

The Court had interpreted the original Act’s language, that the statute of limitations started at the time of “the alleged unlawful employment practice,” to mean that an employee had to bring a claim within 180 days of the initial decision to provide them unequal pay.  Which meant Ledbetter, who was tipped off to her unequal pay at 70, months before retirement, was years too late to bring a valid claim. 

Congress’s vote fell mainly along party lines; this was a statute that President Bush had vowed to veto had he seen it last year. 

Republicans are concerned that the change will lead to stale lawsuits that are hard, if not impossible, to defend.  Management-side attorneys are warning their clients that employee records that used to be cleared for shredding will now have to be stored indefinitely.

Proponents of the bill, including most Democrats, women’s-rights groups and organized labor, say the Ledbetter Act will finally provide the right statutory protection to level the playing field with regard to pay.  The view was succinctly summed up by Senator Barabara McKulski of Maryland (the bill’s chief sponsor in the Senate) in the N.Y. Times:

“If you don’t want to be sued, don’t discriminate.”

This early passage of such a controversial bill is heralding a wave of legislation that’s likely to come throughout the year.  Democrats have been holding onto similar bills until a more favorable climate arose for their passage, and have clearly found it in the new President and their increased power in both Houses of Congress. 

The bulk effect of these changes may be a shift of power under U.S. labor and employment law away from business and into the hands of employees and their labor representatives.