President Bush should follow the recent signing of the anti-genetic discrimination bill with support for passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would restore the ability of women who are unfairly and wrongly underpaid because of gender discrimination to recover the fair pay they have earned. That ability was taken away last year by the Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision that disregarded the overwhelming consensus of the intermediate federal appeals courts and a common sense appreciation for the regular workplace.
Lilly Ledbetter worked as an area supervisor for Goodyear in Alabama, the only woman out of a total of 15 area supervisors. After nearly 20 years of faithful service and hard work, she learned that she was being paid from $500 to $1500 less per month than all her male counterparts including a number with lesser seniority. She filed suit, a jury ruled that gender discrimination was the basis for her being underpaid and she was awarded some $250,000 of wages she had rightfully and fairly earned.
The Supreme Court took it away, ruling 5-4 that Ledbetter could recover only that lesser pay that occurred within the last six months of her employment. Goodyear, of course, like many employers – studies have shown that one-third of private sector employers prohibit employees from discussing their pay – kept a tight lid on salary and pay information. As a result, Ledbetter, despite her undeniable qualifications and hard work, was grossly underpaid in comparison with her male counterparts for many, many years. Only when she found out what had been done to her did she file suit. But the Supreme Court ruled no matter, she waited too late.
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act simply seeks to restore what every woman working in America had before the Supreme Court’s decision: that is, a realistic opportunity to recover in court the earnings and benefits that they deserve based on their performance and qualifications but have been denied because of their gender. The House of Representatives passed the bill overwhelmingly, but it died in the Senate in the face of a Republican-led filibuster with both of Kentucky’s Senators, McConnell and Bunning, standing tall against equal pay for equal work.
It would seem a very American notion: that women (and everyone else for that matter) should be paid fairly and equally for the work their skills, abilities and labor enables them to do. President Bush’s support for the anti-genetic discrimination bill is a sensible and reasoned response to a real world, real life problem. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is the same, and the President, along with Kentucky’s Senators, should line up in support of equal pay for equal work.
