Why is the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act important?
Even though Congress outlawed wage discrimination based on sex more than four decades ago, women continue to be paid, on average, only 77 cents for every dollar paid to men. In 2007, the Supreme Court made it much more difficult for women to challenge the discrimination that is a significant factor in that wage gap. The Court ruled that Lilly Ledbetter, who was paid less than her male co-workers for nearly two decades, should have sued when the original decision to pay her less was made, and not when she received her paychecks — even though those paychecks continued to be discriminatorily reduced for the entire time she worked for the company. This ruling made no sense, among other things since most workers don’t know what their coworkers make, much less whether any difference is the result of discrimination. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act restores the prior common sense rule, which allows any victim of pay discrimination the right to challenge any discriminatory paycheck she receive
