Bill Clinton: “I think it is important we go back to the facts and remind ourselves in this Chamber about the person, the real live…”

“I think it is important we go back to the facts and remind ourselves in this Chamber about the person, the real live woman, for whom this legislation is named, Lilly Ledbetter. She was a supervisor at a Goodyear Tire and Rubber plant in Gadsden, AL, from 1979 until her retirement in 1998. For most of those years, she worked as an area manager, a position normally occupied by men. Now, initially, Lilly Ledbetter's salary was in line with the salaries of men performing substantially similar work. Over time, however, her pay slipped in comparison. And it was slipping in comparison with men who had equal or less seniority. By the end of 1997, Lilly Ledbetter was the only woman working as an area manager, and the pay discrepancies between her and her 15 male counterparts were stark. She was paid $3,727 a month. The lowest paid male area manager received $4,286 a month and the highest $5,236. In other words, Goodyear paid her male counterparts 25 to 40 percent more than she earned for doing the same job.”