Lilly Ledbetter Case

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Barack Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fairpay Act, on January 29, 2009. It holds a historic honor of being the first law the president signed, while in office. This law, in simple terms, addressed unfair and unacceptable wage gaps. The Lilly Ledbetter Fairpay Act is a legislative correction to a May 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision (Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co (Mathis and Jackson, 2011). This decision restricted the ability of victims who experienced pay discrimination to sue and receive damages, under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Mathis and Jackson, 2011). In Ledbetter Lilly Fairpay Act, the Court ruled that Lilly Ledbetter could receive no recourse from her employer (Mathis and Jackson, 2011).This decision came even though she was discriminated against by being paid less than her male colleagues were, for years. The Court ruled that Ledbetter had filed her complaint too late. This was based on 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 (Mathis and Jackson, 2011).
This decision is unfair to victims of pay discrimination. It ignored the truths of the workplace. Employees generally are no informed enough about what their co-workers earn, …show more content…

It reinstated the ability of workers, in all occupations, to seek to vindication against pay discrimination. In summary, individuals have 180 days to sue from the last discriminatory paycheck received. This law is designed to protect workers from employment discrimination practices(Mathis and Jackson, 2011). Additionally, it empowers individuals who believe they have been victims of worksite discrimination a greater amount of time to seek justice. Usually, the victim can only collect backpay for the last two

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