Washington, D.C. – This morning, President Obama signed his first piece of legislation into law, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Strongly supported by U.S. Rep. Schwartz, this bill takes a major step forward to begin to close gender pay discrimination in the U.S. by reversing a Supreme Court decision that has kept women from pursuing pay discrimination claims. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act clarifies that each discriminatory paycheck or compensation constitutes a violation of the Civil Rights Act. As long as workers file their charges within 180 days of a discriminatory paycheck, their charges would be considered timely. This was the law prior to the Supreme Court’s May 2007 decision.

“The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act makes it clear that gender discrimination should have absolutely no place in America’s workplaces. This bill is about fairness and about justness, and I applaud President Obama for signing it into law so quickly,” said U.S. Rep. Schwartz, a cosponsor of the bill. As one of the cosponsors of the bill, Schwartz forcefully advocated for its passage and championed the bill both on and off the Hill.

Background on the bill: 

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act would apply to workers who file claims of discrimination on the basis of race, sex, color, national origin, religion, age, or disability.
 
Lilly Ledbetter worked for nearly 20 years at a Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. She sued the company after learning that she was paid less then her male counterparts at the facility, despite having more experience than several of them. A jury found that her employer had unlawfully discriminated against her on the basis of sex.
 
However, the Supreme Court said that Ledbetter had waited too long to sue for pay discrimination, despite the fact that she filed a charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as soon as she received an anonymous note alerting her to pay discrimination.  
 
While Ledbetter filed her charge within 180 days of receiving discriminatory pay, the court ruled that, since Ledbetter did not raise a claim within 180 days of the employer’s decision to pay her less, she could not receive any relief.  Under this Supreme Court decision, employees in Ledbetter’s position would be forced to live with discriminatory paychecks for the rest of their careers.
 
Despite claims from critics, the Congressional Budget Office estimated in 2007 that since the bill would essentially return the law to where it stood before the Supreme Court ruling, the legislation will not lead to an onslaught of costly new litigation. Click here for the CBO estimate.

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