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Fair Pay Hearing Shows Why Pay Discrimination Isn’t OK |
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When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5–4 in 2007 that Lilly Ledbetter waited too long to file a lawsuit after experiencing 20 years of pay discrimination by Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Ledbetter says it sent a “loud and clear” message to Big Business.
With regard to pay discrimination, there are lots of other companies out there that got the Supreme Court’s message loud and clear: They will not be punished for discriminating, if they do it long enough and cover it up well enough.
She testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday at a hearing examining pay discrimination and barriers to equal pay for equal work. Last year, after the court’s decision, the House passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act that, in effect, would reverse the ruling. But Senate Republicans, with the support of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), have blocked Senate action.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said today’s rampant economic uncertainty makes fair pay and equal pay laws even more important.
In today’s strained economy, however, there is no issue more important for women than their financial security. Put simply, women are still not paid as much as men, even when they do the exact same job.
Women are paid only 77 cents for every dollar a man is paid, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Women workers who are covered by a union contract are guaranteed equal pay. But millions of other working women don’t have that protection and must rely on today’s inadequate fair pay laws.
Ledbetter says her case was “just the tip of the iceberg” of the long-term pay discrimination many women experience.
After years of working at an Alabama Goodyear tire plant, Ledbetter discovered she was being paid less than the lowest-paid man doing the same work. She gathered enough evidence to file suit, and a jury awarded her $3.8 million. But Goodyear appealed to the Supreme Court.
In the court’s ruling, written by Bush-picked Justice Samuel Alito, the court said Ledbetter—and other workers—has no right to sue for a remedy in cases of pay discrimination if she waits more than 180 days after her first paycheck, even if she doesn’t discover the pay discrimination until years later. Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said the court
created a bizarre interpretation of our civil rights laws, and ignored the realities of the American workplace. Ms. Ledbetter’s employer, Goodyear Tire, will never be held accountable for its illegal actions.
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) said that in most workplaces, employees don’t know what others are getting paid and it could take years to discover discriminatory pay. That’s why, he said:
Before the Ledbetter decision, the courts had held that each time an employee received a new paycheck, the 180-day clock was restarted because every paycheck was considered a new unlawful practice.
Among other provisions, the Ledbetter Fair Pay law would restore the 180-day clock for each discriminatory paycheck. But the McCain-backed filibuster of the bill means it will be up to the new Congress to take action.
In April, with the blessing of both McCain and Bush, a minority of mostly Republican senators filibustered the fair pay bill and blocked a vote on it. The vote to end the filibuster fell just four votes short (56–42) of the 60 votes needed.
McCain was on the campaign trail and didn’t cast a vote, but he told reporters he opposed the fair pay legislation and said if he had been in Washington, he would have voted for the filibuster.
Two weeks later, at a Michigan town hall meeting, he reiterated his opposition to the anti-pay discrimination bill. A 14-year-old girl asked McCain why he skipped out on the vote. McCain said he agreed with the minority of senators who filibustered the bill. He claimed it wouldn’t help women.
I don’t believe that this would do anything to help the rights of women.
In June, he went even further when he said the real reason women faced unequal pay wasn’t the result of discrimination.
They need more education and training.
Several recent reports show working women continue to earn less than men, even though statistics indicate they are better educated.
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is among the co-sponsors of the Senate version of the Ledbetter fair pay bill. At a July forum on the economy and women’s issues, Obama said:
We won’t truly have an economy that puts the needs of the middle class first until we ensure that when it comes to pay and benefits at work, women are treated like the equal partners they are.
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