President Obama's first signed piece of legislation was a popular bill named for one of the most famous female faces of unequal pay for equal work. For 19 years, Lilly Ledbetter very loyally worked for Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in Gadsden, AL in the minority compared to men (at some points being the only female). However, the Supreme Court ruled that she had no legal leg to stand on because she was supposed to have sued her company within 180 days of the original discrimination (even though she had no idea and we obviously live in a society that finds it taboo to discuss money).
In Lilly Ledbetter's case, the discrimination was obvious and inarguably illegal. By the end of her career, the court reported, Ledbetter was making $3727/month while the average of the male employees (including those with less seniority) were making $4286/month. Justice Ginsberg also reported in dissent that the problem had been ongoing for many years and that only initially did Ledbetter make equal pay with males of equal seniority.
With this piece of legislation, each time a paycheck is received the 180 day statutory limit resets itself. If Ledbetter had been cheated out of equal pay in 1980 but found out in 1998, she would still be able to sue under this law so long as she received a paycheck within 180 days of her filing for suit. The law echoes her law team's argument during the trial that did not prevail with the conservative court.
The bill passed overwhelmingly in the heavily Democratic House of Representatives and was only debated in the Senate for a few days before the Senate voted to close debate 3 to 1. Every Democrat (except Sen. Kennedy (D-MA) who was still recovering from his Inauguration Day seizure) voted in favor as well as all four female Republican Senators plus Senator Specter (R-PA). On January 29th, President Obama signed the bill in presence of Maine's two female Republican Senators, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and most importantly Lilly Ledbetter who watched the President sign the bill over his shoulder.
The notion that pay discrimination is rampant, however, is not entire true. There are a lot of reasons why women make 77 cents per dollar compared to men. Jobs are often dominated by one gender or the other and women oftentimes pick lower paying jobs that give them a sense of selflessness like nursing. Also, men rarely leave the workforce (most men work out of college straight to retirement) unlike women who often have the option to stay home with their kids. For example, my mother has been a homemaker for my entire life so it would be mathematically dishonest to include her in the national average if she were making, say $8/hour. Also, women of older generations are rarely educated due to the discrimination that existed then that has been eradicated, colleges if anything now discriminating against men.
However, there are a lot of cases like Ledbetter's where the discrimination is blatant and intentional and cannot be tolerated. An experienced asset to a company like Ledbetter cannot be making $500/month less than men with the same or less seniority. If this leads to companies being reluctant to hire women, then the Justice Department will deal with that harshly. And if this leads to thousands of frivolous cases, so-be-it...we cannot have cases like that of Lilly Ledbetter poisoning our country's values of equality.
While the law as is does not protect businesses, the Congress can pass legislation later that would if it is deemed necessary but for now, this is a tremendous victory for equality.
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