The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act passed the Senate today and is expected to easily pass in the House of Representatives. Lilly Ledbetter started working at the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in Alabama in 1979. In 1998 Ledbetter found out that she was being payed significantly less than her male counterparts at the plant. She filed formal charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and sued Goodyear basing her argument on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Pay Act of 1963. Ledbetter's case was appealed to the Supreme Court who found in favor of Goodyear. Supreme Court Justice Alito said the court based their decision on the fact that Ledbetter did not file her lawsuit within the 180 day limit. Ledbetter's attorneys argued that the 180 day limit should not apply because financial information about coworkers' salaries was usually hidden from workers and therefore it was difficult to find the information out within 180 days. The legislation that passed the Senate, after having failed earlier, would address this issue.
Read an interview with Ledbetter here.
What is your opinion on this case? Do you think the new legislation will fixe the problem? Do you know any women who believe that they have been paid less than their male couterparts?
8 comments:
I think that it is very frustrating to know that this kind of thing is happening all of the time. I know a women who has been at the same job for 40 plus years and men who have been there less than her are making a significant amount of money more than she is. Those men in question also have a less amount of education then she does but because of their old-fashioned boss the men make more then the women. And the women with the smaller salaries are the ones who are being cut off in these hard times. When the boss should just cut one LARGE men's salary and save about 5 other very needed jobs.
I really find this disturbing to womens rights. I am however glad that they changed the date of appeal from 180 days to 2 years. I think that it is amazing that for the same exact work men and women get paid so diffferently. I know a few women that have gone through similar casses...but never have had proof to do anything about it...or were afraid to try. I think that whoever wrote that anonymous note was a good person trying to secretly fight for womens rights.
I personally don’t know anyone who has been paid less than their male counterparts, but I think that it is ridiculous and completely unfair that men get paid more than women, even if they have the same job title. There are women out there that can do everything that men can. Just because there is a gender difference doesn’t make it right. I do think and believe that the new legislation will fix this problem. It has already been brought to so many people’s attention. If it does not get fixed, I think there would be a lot of angry people, women and men!
I think that our society needs to come to its senses. The 23 cent difference has a huge loss for women in the long run. It is not fair. From the lowest paying jobs to the highest, you can see the same trend, of women getting paid less. I've been working at a company for almost 4 years and there are guys coming in with no experience making more than me. I'm not saying that my job requires any special skills but if one person is working their hardest and the new person is slacking off, when raises come around the person that works harder should get paid more, no matter their gender.
I do know women who have found out that they make less money then their male counterparts and have done nothing about it. I think the new legislation will do some good. I hope more women speak up when they know they are being paid less. It is completely unfair that men and women who have the same job title get paid that much of a difference from each other.
I personally believe that two years or any amount of limited timing shouldn’t matter when it comes to differences in pay. Differences in pay shouldn’t exist at all due to the simple fact of genitalia, it should mainly be fixed on experience and knowledge. If you are doing the exact same job , whether it’d be male or female, and you are not receiving the exact same pay because you are a women, and you find out 3 days after you start the job, or 20 plus years later. It’s still the same problem , it still the same amount of discrimination and personally lowering someone because they have different body parts between their legs, it should not mean different pay. To allow this in any company or any work place, just represents hidden oppression in our culture, the sense of fake work equality that doesn’t exist. I think things like these get away so easily because some women don’t exactly know there rights, and therefore that is taken advantage of.
wow! after reading the interview with Ms. Ledbetter, you understand the whole issue of unequal pay and how it will affect the rest of her life.(regarding the the social security, retirement benefits, etc....) i think that the supreme court should not have held the 180 day stipulation becasue of the deception from her compnay. The Goodyear Company should extend a Good Faith compensation to her and pay her retractive, or give some kind of monetary "gift".....this is a crime disguised as something else. I will certainly write a letter about this bill to my elected officials....thank you.
This really hits home with my family. My parents have worked at the same job (together) since both of them graduated high school. My mom has actually been working here a couple years longer than my dad, yet she is paid less(and they have the same exact job title). My parents both have the same amount of education, yet working for the federal government they don't care. I find it sad that we still see this kind of stuff going on in our society today and with our own families. It's clearly not fair and frankly, it makes no sense.
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