NWLC Applauds House Passage of Ledbetter Fix

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 Contact: Jenice Robinson or Ranit Schmelzer, 202-588-5180

NWLC APPLAUDS HOUSE PASSAGE OF LEDBETTER FIX

(Washington, DC) Following is a statement by Marcia D. Greenberger, Co-President of the National Women's Law Center, on House passage of the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007. The bill, which would restore protections against wage discrimination eviscerated by the Supreme Court's decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., passed by a vote of 225 to 199. The Senate is expected to vote on a similar bill later this year.

"This bill ensures that Title VII's promise of equal pay for equal work can be enforced. Its passage is critical for women, and all Americans, who have been the victims of pay discrimination and ensures that employers can be held accountable for discriminatory pay decisions.

"Nearly two months ago, the Court upset long-standing interpretation of the law and severely weakened employees' ability to remedy wage discrimination by ruling that employees only have 180 days after their employers' original discriminatory pay decisions to file wage discrimination complaints. This ruling undermines employees' ability to get equal pay, ignores the realities of the workplace where employees often do not know their co-workers pay, and creates perverse incentives for employers to hide pay discrimination until it is too late for employees to challenge it. The Ledbetter Fair Pay Act confirms that each reduced paycheck represents an act of discrimination.

"More than four decades after Congress outlawed wage discrimination based on sex, women continue to be paid, on average, only 77 cents for every dollar paid to men. This persistent wage gap can be remedied only if women are armed with the tools necessary to challenge sex discrimination against them. We urge the Senate to take up and pass this legislation soon."