House Approves Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

Among their first order of business for the 111th Congress, the House of Representatives rectified a Supreme Court ruling today aimed to help workers who file claims of discrimination on the basis of race, sex, color, national origin, religion, age, or disability. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (H.R. 11), which passed at a 247 to 171 margin, clarifies that every paycheck or other compensation resulting from an earlier discriminatory pay decision constitutes a violation of the Civil Rights Act.

The Supreme Court's decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear ruled that employees must file their charges within 180 days of their employers' actual decision to provide discriminatory pay. Therefore, the period in which one may assert a claim is triggered by a discrete unlawful practice, often unrecognized by the victim until the charging period has expired. Thus, under Ledbetter v. Goodyear, discriminated employees were often forced to live with their unfair pay for the rest of their careers. The House has recognized the consequences of the Ledbetter decision and voted today to reverse this discriminatory practice. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act grants that each and every discriminatory paycheck is a civil rights violation, thus expanding the period that one may assert a claim for employment discrimination.

"The passage of the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in the House today is a rejection of the Supreme Court's ill-conceived Ledbetter decision and a restoration of an American worker's right to reasonably seek restitution against pay discrimination," said Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ), chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.

According to a New York Times report, the Ledbetter decision has already been cited in more than 300 discrimination cases, many of which were adversely impacted by this misguided ruling. While critics claim that this law will lead to a flood of litigation, this bill restores the law as it has existed for more than three decades, during which there was no such onslaught of litigation.

The House-passed bill is the same as the bill approved in 2007 and President-Elect Obama has indicated his strong support.

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