Jan 24 2009
Federal Fair-Wage Rules
There is a bill that passed the Senate late Thursday night. Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, was introduced after a Supreme Court ruling in 2007 rejected a $360,000 award in back pay to Lilly Ledbetter, an Alabama woman who worked for Goodyear Tire and Rubber. Ledbetter had discovered a large gap between her salary and that of her male colleagues, stretching back years.
The Supreme Court threw out her case, saying she had passed the 180 day statute of limitations on bringing a claim. The Democrats say that the law is too restrictive.
Often times the wage discrimination cannot be found within the statute of limitations. Some times it isn’t even thought of as wage discrimination.
I have a sense of disbelief with this situation. Are you telling me people are still paying people based on their genders?! I highly doubt this is so, when most jobs advertise with the pay scale intact.
Women earn less over a life time. Women have babies, leave work for maternity leave, and are often the ones who have to leave work to pick up the sick kid, watch the sick parent etc. It is just a fact of life that these are things expected of women.
To me, this smacks of the Equal Rights Amendment that the Democrats want in the Constitution. The ERA would prohibit discrimination in wages based on gender (and some other categories). Here’s the thing - I already have teh 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments that require that I be treated the same as a male. I don’t need a special one for me.
Nor do I need a special law to allow for greater time to deal with wage discrimination. I simply need to be alert and know my own worth.
