Atlanta Employment Lawyer Blog

The first bill that President Obama has signed while in office was the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, signed on Thursday, January 29th, and which overturns the 2007 US Supreme Court decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber.

Ledbetter, who travelled with the President on the inauguration train from Philly to DC, and who also spoke at the Democratic National Convention, had sued Goodyear for unequal pay over her 19 years of employment with the tire and rubber company. She submitted evidence that men had been paid more money than she had been paid for doing the same work for the company. She claimed that she had not been aware of the pay discrepancy until shortly before she left the company, and that was why she had to file the lawsuit after the normal statute of limitations had run.

Continue reading "President Obama Signs Ledbetter" »

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You may recall that in 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., in which it held that victims of pay discrimination have only 180 days from the date of an initial discriminatory pay practice to file a claim of discrimination, even if such a practice continues well after the initial act of discrimination. In Ms. Ledbetter’s case, although she was paid at a lower rate than her male employees for 20 years, she did not learn about the pay discrimination until long after it first occurred. Since her discovery of the pay disparity came about more than 180 days after the initial discriminatory pay decision, the Court held that her claims were barred by the 180-day statute of limitations contained in Title VII. The Court was silent on the Equal Pay Act, which provides women a separate avenue for claims of disparate pay going back as far as three years prior to the filing of suit.

Continue reading "Pay Discrimination Bill Fails in Congress" »

Posted by Buckley & Klein | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Equal Pay

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