|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
For Immediate Release: Thursday, January 29, 2009
Contact: Ranit Schmelzer or Mary Robbins, 202-588-5180
PRESIDENT OBAMA SIGNS LEDBETTER BILL
Restored Law Marks Key Moment for Civil Rights
(Washington, DC) President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law today, reversing the Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling in 2007 and restoring the ability of victims of wage discrimination to hold their employers accountable for injustice and challenge the practice in court.
“This is truly a monumental achievement for women – and all workers. The Supreme Court stripped workers of their ability to fight wage discrimination but now a new President and Congress have stepped in and restored their basic legal rights,” said Marcia D. Greenberger, Co-President of the National Women’s Law Center. “Employers will now be held accountable for each discriminatorily reduced paycheck, because every time pay is unfairly lowered, it’s a violation of the law and fundamental fairness.”
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act restores the law that existed for decades in virtually every region of the country prior to the Supreme Court decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. and makes it clear that each discriminatory paycheck is a new act of discrimination that resets the 180-day limit to file a claim.
In doing so, the bill reestablishes the law’s incentive for employers to correct discriminatory pay practices. Employers will no longer have a free pass to continue to discriminate against their employees without ever having to worry about being held accountable. At the same time, plaintiffs still can recover back pay only for a period of no more than two years before they challenge the discrimination.
“The five Supreme Court justices who ruled against me showed they didn’t understand the realities of the workplace,” said Lilly Ledbetter. “But Congress and the President told them today that they were wrong. The effects of wage discrimination are all too real. And when it comes down to it, this really is a family affair. If women are paid better, families and the rest of the country are better off.”
“Lilly Ledbetter’s case is over and she will never receive the pay she deserves from Goodyear. But as she said in her many visits to organizations and schools across the country, ‘there will be a richer reward if we secure fair pay for our children and grandchildren,’” said Greenberger. “We are so thankful today for the Members of Congress who voted in favor of the bill, and President Obama who moved swiftly to sign the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law.”
In the first week of the new Congress the House of Representatives also passed the Paycheck Fairness Act, another key piece of legislation that will build on the Ledbetter bill by improving incentives for employers to comply with the law and the ability of employees to secure compliance with it. NWLC urges the Senate to take up and pass the Paycheck Fairness Act.
To speak with Marcia D. Greenberger or Lilly Ledbetter, contact Ranit Schmelzer or Mary Robbins at 202-588-5180. For more information about the campaign for pay equity, visit www.nwlc.org/fairpay.
###
