2009 – Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is the most recent passed piece of legislation passed that directly assists women in the workplace. If unfamiliar with this act, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was the first bill Barack Obama signed into law upon becoming president in January of 2009. Basically, the law amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to state that the 180-day statute of limitations regarding a pay discrimination lawsuit resets with each new discriminatory paycheck, giving people more time to realize they’re being discriminated against, get a lawyer, and file a lawsuit. Lilly Ledbetter was a production supervisor at a Goodyear tire plant in Alabama for almost two decades. In 1998, after discovering she had been making significantly less than her male counterparts, Ledbetter filed an equal pay discrimination lawsuit. She filled it under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which states that employers with 15 employees or more may not discriminate on the basis of “race, color, religion, sex or national origin.” Unfortunately, Title VII also set the time limit to file suit at 180 days, and Lilly was six months away from retirement, so her lawsuit’s chances were doubtful. She filed anyway and it went all the way to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court voted 5-4 that Ledbetter was not entitled to compensation because she filed her claim more than 180 days after receiving her first discriminatory paycheck and she lost more than $200,000 in wages and benefits during her career due to gender discrimination. Because of this and because of Obama’s involvement women now have a law-abiding way to demand the wages they deserve as well as protect themselves from wage discrimination.

-Alan Daniel