EQUAL PAY BILL SIGNED BY PRESIDENT

On January 29th, President Obama signed into law Senate Bill 2831, the "Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act" [Public Law 111-2]. The law is named for a woman who had filed a lawsuit near the end of her career after she discovered that she had been paid less money than another worker doing the same job. In 2007, the Supreme Court denied her claim in a 5-4 ruling based on its opinion that a worker must file a claim of discrimination within 180 days of a company's initial decision to pay one worker more than the other. Under the Ledbetter Act, every new discriminatory paycheck extends the statute of limitations for filing a pay discrimination lawsuit another 180 days. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), sponsor of the bill, applauded the signing of the Ledbetter Act stating that "Congress and the President restored the law today and ensured that discriminatory paychecks are not immune from challenge." The Act amends Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

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