lilly ledbetter fair pay act

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which states that the 180-day statute of limitations for pay discrimination resets with each new discriminatory paycheck, was signed into U.S. law on January 29, 2009, by U.S. President Barack Obama.

The law was enacted in response to Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 550 U.S. 618 (2007), a U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that the statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit begins at the date the pay was agreed upon, not at the date of the most recent paycheck, as a lower court had ruled. This precluded lawsuits by plaintiffs who alleged ongoing pay discrimination but who did not discover it until years after the discrimination began.

A bill to amend the statutory limitations period and supersede the Ledbetter decision failed to pass in the 110th Congress, and was re-introduced in the first session of the 111th United States Congress. In the 2008 elections, the Democrats criticized Republicans for defeating the 2007 version of the bill, citing Republican presidential candidate John McCain's opposition. Then-candidate Barack Obama supported the bill.[1]

Legislative history

The bill (H.R. 2831 and S. 1843) was defeated in April 2008 by Republicans in the Senate who cited the possibility of frivolous lawsuits in their opposition of the bill[2] and criticized Democrats for refusing to allow compromises.[3]

The bill was reintroduced in the House in January 2009 (as H.R. 11 and S. 181), where it passed with 247 votes in support and 171 against.[4] The Senate voted 72 to 23 to invoke cloture on S. 181, on January 15, 2009. [5] (The vote to invoke cloture ends debate on a bill, and usually leads to a final vote within a few days.)

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act passed the Senate, 61-36, on January 22, 2009. The votes in favor included every Democratic senator (except Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, who was absent from the vote because of health issues) and all four female Republican senators. Every male Republican voted against it except Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter, who voted for it. [6]

As president, Obama actively supported the bill. The Whitehouse.gov blog said:

President Obama has long championed this bill and Lilly Ledbetter's cause, and by signing it into law, he will ensure that women like Ms. Ledbetter and other victims of pay discrimination can effectively challenge unequal pay.[7]

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced that the House would vote on S.181 (the bill passed by the Senate) during the week of January 26, getting the bill to President Obama's desk sooner rather than later. On January 27, the House passed S.181 by a 250-177 margin.

On January 29, Obama signed the bill into law. It was the first act he signed as president, and it fulfilled his campaign pledge to nullify Ledbetter v. Goodyear.[8]

References ^ Corey Dade (August 31, 2008).