David Loebsack: “I rise today, in strong support of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007. This bill will rectify the 5-4 Supreme…”

“I rise today, in strong support of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007. This bill will rectify the 5-4 Supreme Court decision in the case of Lilly Ledbetter and preserve worker's rights everywhere. Lilly Ledbetter was a female production supervisor at a Goodyear plant in Gadsden, Alabama. She worked for 19 years and retired in 1998. Six months prior to her retirement she filed a charge with the EEOC alleging various claims of sex discrimination. Despite receiving awards for top performance, Ms. Ledbetter received several unfair, negative evaluations and her pay dropped well below that of her male counterparts. Ledbetter's supervisor even admitted that one year her pay fell below the minimum threshold for her position. Ms. Ledbetter's case went to trial, and an Alabama court found in her favor, but Goodyear appealed and the case eventually went to the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court tossed aside prior law and ruled against Ms. Ledbetter. This case has far reaching effects on all worker's civil rights. If an employee does not file a charge within 180 days of a discriminatory pay decision, the employer's pay decision is immunized. The employee must live with discriminatory pay for the rest of her tenure, and the employer reaps the financial benefits of unlawfully underpaying the employee. There are numerous problems with this line of reasoning. Employees often don't know about a discriminatory decision until it is too late.”