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Obama signs bill 'clarifying' equal pay protections

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] US President Barack Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 into law Thursday, extending the deadline for employees to sue their employers for unequal pay discrimination. The law's "clarification" of equal pay protections effectively overturns the 2007 decision of the US Supreme Court in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., which held that "a pay-setting decision is a discrete act that occurs at a particular point in time" and that the statutory period for filing a discrimination claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) begins when that discrete act occurs. The new law alters Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to clarify that the six month statute of limitations controlling racial, gender, or national origin employment discrimination suits is applicable to each instance of a discriminatory practice, including the receipt of each paycheck, not only to the initial discriminatory act. Obama said that the new law send a clear message: that making our economy work means making sure it works for everybody; that there are no second-class citizens in our workplaces; and that it's not just unfair and illegal, it's bad for business to pay somebody less because of their gender or their age or their race or their ethnicity, religion or disability; and that justice isn't about some abstract legal theory, or footnote in a casebook.The bill is the first Obama signed into law after taking office last week.The initial lawsuit was brought by Lilly Ledbetter, a 19-year Goodyear employee, who alleged that she received less pay than male counterparts because of gender discrimination. The Supreme Court upheld the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit's reversal of a district court decision awarding Ledbetter $360,000 in damages.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on January 29, 2009 (boomark / email).