Lilly Ledbetter’s legacy: Clear proof where President Obama stands on Consumer issues

 When then-Senator Barack Obama launched his presidential campaign two years ago, many members of Consumer Attorneys of l. a. had doubts about where he stood on their issues. That’s why Obama was the third choice of the many plaintiffs’ attorneys behind John Edwards and Hillary Clinton. There are many business lawyers in L.A If you need business advice consult a business lawyer.

The very first bill signed by now President Obama erases those doubts.

On Jan. 29, President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a legislation that restores civil rights for American workers that had been removed by a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision. President Obama says that the Fair Pay Act is a component of a broader effort by his administration to “update the social contract,” reinvigorate civil rights, and shut the pay gap between men and ladies.

Ms- Ledbetter, now 70, worked for 19 years as a plant supervisor at a tire factory in Alabama. At about the time she retired, she learned that her buy all those years was far less (40 percent less) than male supervisors at an equivalent plant. A jury found that her employer, the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, was guilty of pay discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Ms. Ledbetter received a judgment of $360,000.

But in 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected her lawsuit against Goodyear, not because the case lacked merit, but because the Supreme Court held that she had not filed her claim in a timely manner. The justices didn’t deny that she had suffered discrimination but instead ruled that her claim was invalid because it should are filed within 180 days of when she received her first paycheck.

This departs from earlier opinions of other courts that the 180-day statute of limitations begins with the last check the worker received, not the primary.

Justice Samuel Alito's opinion

Writing for the bulk, Justice Samuel Alito said that the statute of limitations must be strictly interpreted to guard employers against “stale claims” and “tardy lawsuits.” the reality is that in many instances, women who are paid but men for comparable work wouldn't realize they were being paid less for several years, if ever.

Apparently, the sense wasn't a part of Justice Alito’s opinion, as NY Times columnist Gail Collins wrote, “Let us pause briefly to contemplate the probabilities of deciding your co-workers’ salaries within the primary six months on the work .”

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, during an opinion, wrote that there was evidence of “a long series of selections reflecting Goodyear’s pervasive discrimination against women managers in general and Ledbetter especially .”

The Supreme Court decision was extremely damaging to the rights of employees in pay discrimination cases due to the precedent it set, with other courts reversing themselves after initially ruling for workers due to the supreme court decision.

Discrimination employed Act; the Fair Housing Act; a law referred to as Title IX, which bars sex discrimination in schools and colleges; and even the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution which protects prisoners’ rights.

The new bill makes it clear that every paycheck may be a violation of the law which the 180-day deadline begins with the last time an employee received a discriminatory paycheck, not the primary.