The Ledbetter Act: Example of Recent Discrimination

Lilly Ledbetter
Photo: blog.al.com

      The Lily Ledbetter Act and the story behind it is an excellent example of recent discrimination and how our modern government handled it. Lilly Ledbetter worked for the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company as an area manager for most of her career between 1979 and 1998. She was not aware for many years that her salary was 15 to 40% less than men in the same position. In 1998, she was denied a pay raise and afterwards received a anonymous note detailing the salaries of men in the same positions. (Rose, Nina Q)

      She filed a lawsuit during the same year, but it did not fit under Title IIV of Civil Rights Act of 1964 which stated that the charge must be filed within 180 days of an offense or 300 days if the person first initiated proceedings with an enforcement agency. The jury awarded her 3.8 million dollars until it was capped at $360,000. After being appealed, the jury's award was reversed by the Eleventh Circuit of Appeals. Ledbetter then filed a writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court where her action was excluded as untimely. To do this, the court had to distort Title IIV's procedure, and Justice Samuel A. Alito wrote the majority opinion of a 5-4 decision. The Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 was introduced on January 8th by Senator Barbara A. Mikulski and fifty-two co-sponsors. According to the Journal of Government Information Practice and Perspective: "the LLFPA specified that for pay discrimination claims, an unlawful employment practice occurs: [such as a discriminatory compensation decision that affects wages, benefits, or other compensation]." It prohibits the discrimination of sex, race, color, religion, national origin, age, and disability. The Act was the first law that President Obama signed on January 29th. (Rose, Nina Q)

According to Whitehouse.gov, by age 65, the average
woman will have lost $431,000 because of the gender
earning gap.

      Although the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was signed into law in 2009, President Obama revisited the subject during his 2014 State of the Union Address. He stated, "Today, women make up about half our workforce,” he said. “But they still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. That is wrong, and in 2014, it’s an embarrassment. A woman deserves equal pay for equal work. … It’s time to do away with workplace policies that belong in a ‘Mad Men’ episode." He closed by saying, "This year, let’s all come together – Congress, the White House, and businesses from Wall Street to Main Street – to give every woman the opportunity she deserves. Because I firmly believe when women succeed, America succeeds." (Whitehouse.gov)

Sources: 

Rose, Nina Q. "Lilly Ledbetter." Dttp: A Quarterly Journal Of Government Information Practice & Perspective 39.4 (2011):                      21-25. Library Literature & Information Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 15 Oct. 2014.

Shiu, Patricia. "Mad Men, Working Women, and Fair Pay." The White House Blog. The White House, 30 Jan. 2014. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.