Ledbetter & Gender Pay Discrimination

Despite the financial chaos, Senator Leahy managed to keep his committee schedule on track this week and held a hearing on pay discrimination based on gender, with Lilly Ledbetter testifying. Though we live in the 21st century, women are still not receiving equal pay for equal work. Adding to this disheartening fact is a new study out by Cornell law professors which concludes that the appellate courts are much more favorable to employers than other courts. This raises tangental concerns about the politicization of judge selection, another issue caught in Senate gridlock this year. 

Ledbetter worked for Goodyear Tires for nearly 20 years, before finding out that she was being paid 15-40% less than her male counterparts. She had more training and plenty of experience, but because she was a female, was significantly underpaid. After filing with the EEOC she took her case to court. A jury of her peers found the case in her favor, after which a court of appeals overturned the ruling. In Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tires the Supreme Court held that Goodyear did not have to compensate Ledbetter for their discrimination against her, because of a statute of limitations requiring employees to file their suits within 6 months of the first act of discrimination. This was logically impossible for Ms. Ledbetter, but the Supreme Court ruled against her anyways. 

Congress, in a moment of clarity, decided this was unaceptable and began working on legislation to remedy the situation many women in America today face. The House passed the “Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act” in July 2007. The Senate proved to be the end of the bill, after a Republican filibuster the measure failed. Both Clinton and Obama returned from the campaign trail to vote for the measure, while McCain was the only senator not present for the vote. He aruged that women need “more education and training” (note: Ms. Ledbetter had more hours of training than her male counterparts) and raised a concern of “superflous lawsuits”, a claim made with no evidence to support it. 

Chairman Leahy (D-VT) and Ranking Member Specter (R-PA) are working to reintroduce legislation with the start of the new session, and their determiniation to ensure that women are compensated at the same rate as men is admirable as they pursue pratical and fair public policies.