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July 27, 2007 - As soon as today, the House of Representatives may vote on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (H.R. 2831). This important legislation was introduced to address a May U.S. Supreme Court decision (Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber), which severely limited the ability of victims of pay discrimination to sue under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In Ledbetter, the Court ruled (5-4) that Lilly Ledbetter could receive no recourse from her employer even though - for years - she was discriminatorily paid less than her male colleagues. The Court said that Ledbetter had filed her discrimination complaint too late, calculating the law’s 180-day deadline to sue from the day Ledbetter received her last discriminatory raise rather than – as the law had previously made clear – from the day she received her last discriminatory paycheck. Urgent action is needed! Call your member of Congress TODAY at (202) 224-3121 to urge him/her to vote YES on H.R. 2831, which would correct the Court’s misinterpretation of Title VII in the Ledbetter case. The Ledbetter decision is fundamentally unfair to victims of pay discrimination – AND it ignores the realities of the workplace. Employees generally don’t know enough about what their co-workers earn, or how pay decisions are made, to file a complaint shortly after a discriminatory pay decision is made. However, without that knowledge, the Supreme Court has declared that victims of ongoing pay discrimination have no claim – regardless of how egregious the discrimination is. The Supreme Court’s misinterpretation of Title VII has ignited a firestorm of criticism from civil rights groups for being inconsistent with Congress’ intent and the Court’s own precedent. Now, as Justice Ginsburg pointed out in her strongly worded Ledbetter dissent, “the ball is in Congress’ court” to provide a legislative fix to this harmful decision. Take action! Call your member of Congress at (202) 224-3121 and urge him/her to vote YES on H.R. 2831!
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