Obama to sign Equal Pay law
January 26, 2009 by Sam NarisiPosted in: Discrimination, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
One of the new president’s first actions in office will be to sign a law making it easier for employees to file wage discrimination lawsuits.
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was passed last week by the Senate, after getting approval from the House of Representatives earlier in the month.
The bill now goes to President Obama, who has been a vocal supporter of the new law. He’s expected to sign it on January 29.
It will overturn a 2007 Supreme Court case — Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. – by greatly expanding the statute of limitations for pay bias claims.
Lilly Ledbetter sued Goodyear after learning she’d been paid less than males working the same job.
The Court decided against her, because she failed to file her complaint within the statute of limitations. According to the Court, she had to file within 180 days after the discriminatory decision was made — in this case, when she was hired 20 years ago.
The new law will give employees a new 180-day window to sue every time they receive a paycheck in which they claim they are discriminated against.
January 28th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Good!
January 28th, 2009 at 11:50 am
No – NOT good. This will wreak havoc on HR departments who have to dredge up witnesses, documentation, etc from many many years back…..
January 28th, 2009 at 11:57 am
It’s never too late to correct an injustice.
January 28th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Does this correct “forward”, or will it be retroactive?
January 28th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
The nanny state marches on. There is no such thing as the “rule of law” anymore.
January 28th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Oh good grief! Are you guys really HR people? Your objective is supposed to see that the applicable employment law is administered fairly to both your company and your employees. So what if you have to do extra work (interpreted as doing your job).
There would be no “nanny state” if people in the position of power acted in good faith instead of using a lack of statute to rob their employees. You guys ought to be ashamed.
January 28th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Karin, my understanding is that it corrects forward.
January 28th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
“Once signed, the legislation will take “effect as if enacted on May 28, 2007 and apply to all claims of discrimination in compensation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (29 U.S.C. 621 et seq.), title I and section 503 of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and sections 501 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, that are pending on or after that date.”
January 28th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
John, “Bravo!” Your comments are right on the mark. We wouldn’t have all these laws if people did the right thing in the first place…especially HR people! A good HR professional can do a lot towards keeping his/her employer out of trouble by ensuring employees are treated fairly.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Some of you are making an assumption that us HR people are bad — and it goes without saying that of course if we, and our managers, do our job right, this shouldn’t be an issue. In my company,it’s not. We DO THE RIGHT THING. We were sued once for pay discrimination and it was found to be without merit. Regardless, having more stringent employment laws that make it easier to get sued still add to workload and cause unneeded work for an HR department.
(I thought this was an HR newsletter…yet the people responding seem very much against the HR profession!)
January 28th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
KJB quite the contrary. No HR professional enjoys a lawsuit especially a merit less on. But the point of this ruling is that an employee was discriminated against for YEARS! Instead of a corrective action taking place at the place of business they chose to continue their wrong and then wrong became sanctioned by the court. It was for that reason and the reason that the same pay discrimination could now happen to anyone, including you, that thankfully was rectified. HR people should be applauding this.
Our workload in this case was increased not by a merit less lawsuit but once more by unscrupulous business people which had to have had the blessing of HR people. I’m afraid you are placing the blame on the victim and not where it belongs. If HR had been doing their job there would have been no reason for this. Now this does not say that YOU are a bad HR person. It does say that there are bad HR people that create the need for legislative fixes.
Thanks Ricki!
January 28th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
If you were in Congress and you saw that the Court had in effect negated equal pay, how would you write the new law. I have not been able to come up with a solution that is better than what they have recently passed. If someone has a better solution, then we can push for that but in the meantime, put on your big boy or big girl pants and follow the new law. It’s not the end of the world and it might do some good.
January 28th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
There are also owners and plant managers who have considerable influence in what happens in a business no matter how good the HR person is.
January 29th, 2009 at 10:19 am
This new law is a good thing. It is finally rectifying something that should have been corrected years ago. Just because I don’t know that my male coworkers make more that me within the first 180 days of it happening should not dismiss the fact that it happened.