Rightfully yours

On January 29, as the first legislative act of his presidency, Barack Obama signed into law the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.  The law applies to discriminatory pay complaints and remedies under several current laws, including:

1.      the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) which prohibits discrimination to employees on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin or association with those employees, and sexual harassment

2.      the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) which prohibits discrimination to older employees in the form of hiring, promotion, wages, layoffs and forced retirement

3.      portions of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) which prohibits discrimination to employees  with physical or mental impairment that constitutes a disability

4.      the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 extends the provisions of the ADA to Federal agencies, federal contractors and those programs receiving federal financial assistance.

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act extends filing deadlines for complaints of pay bias based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age and/or disability.  It clarifies the particulars of employment discrimination and prohibits employers from any action that may be considered retaliatory against employees involved or filing a wage discrimination complaint.

The law is retroactive and affects the handling of closed and pending complaints and suits filed after the effective date of the offense. The law eliminates the former time limit an employee has to file a pay discrimination complaint as long as they are still on that employer’s payroll.

As an example, if an employee discovers a pay bias based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age and/or disability that started many years in the past but with the same employer, causing the employee to be paid less, and that pay bias was never corrected, then each uncorrected paycheck starts the statute of limitations anew. 

The employee is now able to file wage discrimination when they discover the discrepancy in pay.  Formerly, as in the case of Lilly Ledbetter, the filer had six months from the date of the first occurrence, when the pay rate was agreed upon.  Under the new law, the six month period restarts with every unrectified paycheck.

The law provides for retroactive coverage effective May 28, 2007 and overturns the Supreme Court decision Ledbetter v. Good Year Tire & Rubber Co (decided May 29).  This is one of the few times a U.S. Supreme Court decision can be overturned. 

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was named for the woman who sued her employer after her early retirement in 1998 for pay discrimination dating back to 1979.  The Supreme Court decision was based on the statute of limitations to sue, not the discrimination itself.

Although the law overturned the Supreme Court decision, Lilly Ledbetter did not benefit financially, since she was not on the company payroll when she filed suit.  It is, however, a giant step in stamping out pay bias and changes the way employers manage compensation decisions.

The bill became an issue in the 2008 Presidential election campaign, with Democratic Barack Obama supporting the bill, and Republican John McCain opposed to it. 

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was reintroduced in the House in January 2009 (as H.R. 11 and S. 181), where it passed 247 – 171 along party lines, with nearly every Republican voting against it. 

The bill passed in the Senate, 61-36 with every Democratic senator (except Edward Kennedy D-MA, who was absent due to health issues) and all four female Republican senators voting for it along with Arlen Specter R-PA.  (Good for you, Senator Specter). 

Every Caucasian male Republican member of Congress voted to defeat this law for equal pay. 

Another bill would make it easier for women to prove violations of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which generally requires equal pay for equal work passed 256 –163, with support from ten Republicans (out of 178).

President Bush summed up the Republican position when he threatened to veto both bills, saying they would “invite a surge of litigation” and “impose a tremendous burden on employers.” 

Ed.Note: The Republicans should be ashamed of themselves and to sit in Congress.

Understandably, they are bitter over losing the election and are showing their limited muscle by voting as a bloc against every Democratic action. 

But by voting as a bloc against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Republicans have insulted every category of worker except the Caucasian male and the employers who cheated employees out of their fair pay. 

Republicans have shown they think of themselves as an elite, entitled class of Caucasian males, a nobility better than anyone else.  They evidently vote only to serve themselves and their party, without regard for the people they represent. 

Republicans have spoken loudly and clearly that they endorse lower pay for women and minorities, and voters should be reminded of this when they come up for election.

Republicans recently elected Michael Steele, an African-American as head of the Republican National Committee.  I wonder if he is being paid less.