Catherwood LibraryILR School

In 2007, the Supreme Court made a controversial decision in hearing the case of Goodyear supervisor Lilly Ledbetter, who claimed she had been paid less than male colleagues for years. The Supreme Court ruled that she should have sued within six months of her pay assignment, despite the fact that she had only recently found out about the pay differential. Ledbetter has since held that each paycheck constituted a separate discrimination and that she could have therefore sued at any time. Democrats are currently pushing a bill in Congress that could reverse this decision. The bill will force the Court to accept Ledbetter's logic of separate discriminations, and increase the damages allowable for pay discrimination. Business interests have firmly opposed the bill, saying that lawsuits must be made when the facts are timely, that the bill presumes the only reason a woman would be paid less is discrimination (as opposed to seniority, etc.), and that the bill will certainly not help retain or create jobs in the ailing economy.