This legislation clarifies that employment discrimination law should be interpreted the way courts have traditionally understood it – until the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a more restrictive interpretation in the 2007 Ledbetter V. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. decision. In this case, the Court ruled that plaintiff Lilly Ledbetter was not eligible for compensation despite years of being paid far less than her male peers and even some male subordinates. According the Court, unlawful discrimination had occurred only when her employer first set the discriminatory pay rate, even though Ledbetter had no way of knowing about it until years later. Under this ruling, since Ledbetter’s employer was able to conceal the discrimination for years and she did not find out about the discrimination until it was too late to file a complaint (within 180 days of the first discriminatory paycheck, according to the Court), she had no legal recourse. By reaffirming that a fresh discrimination offense occurs each time an individual is impacted by a discriminatory practice, including each paycheck that includes unfair compensation, this legislation effectively reverses the Supreme Court’s harmful decision and ensures that people subjected to discrimination in the future will continue to have effective recourse to the law. (Source)
Now here is the actual legislation that was sent to the senate:
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other anti-discrimination laws to clarify at which points in time discriminatory actions qualify as an “unlawful employment practice.” According to the legislation, unlawful conduct occurs when: “(1) a discriminatory compensation decision or other practice is adopted; (2) an individual becomes subject to the decision or practice; or (3) an individual is affected by application of the decision or practice, including each time compensation is paid.” The law further states that individuals may receive back pay as compensation for discrimination that occurred up to two years preceding the filing of a charge.
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act would have given workers a two years statute of limitations to file their claim of pay discrimination; whereas, it is currently only 180 days. It should be noted that both Sen. Obama and Clinton voted to support this act which did not pass the senate, but the presumptive GOP nominee, John McCain, was a no show. His appearance really would not have matter since he said that he would have voted against the legislation anyway:
"I am all in favor of pay equity for women, but this kind of legislation, as is typical of what's being proposed by my friends on the other side of the aisle, opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems," the expected GOP presidential nominee told reporters. "This is government playing a much, much greater role in the business of a private enterprise system." (Source)
Now you tell me which party is really looking out for the working class people in this country? A John McCain presidency will be nothing but a Bush III. But you know what the amazing thing is, the main people who are hurt by legislation like this are the main ones that are going to vote for the Republicans in the Fall. Once again, it's the Dumbing Down of America. Wake up people. Do your homework. The MSM (mainstream media) is not going to report it. You have to find out for yourself.
Now, let's see how much time the MSM spends on reporting this.
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