Labor & Employment Law

Analysis of the ?Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act of 2009?

The ?Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act of 2009? was been signed into law by President Barack Obama, overturning the U.S. Supreme Court?s decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. In Ledbetter the Supreme Court held that the charge-filing deadline for Title VII compensation discrimination claims begins to run on the date of the first allegedly discriminatory pay decision.

The U.S. Supreme Court, affirming an decision by the Eleventh Circuit, ruled that a salary determination is ?a discrete act? for the purpose of establishing a basis for a Title VII claim for the purpose of triggering the 180-day period to file a timely charge of unlawful discrimination.

The amendments to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 provide that the charge-filing periods (300 days in most states and 180 days in states that do not have a fair employment agency) begins 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 an application of a discriminatory compensation decision or practice. The Jackson Lewis article concludes that ?the statute of limitations restarts each time an employee receives a paycheck based on a discriminatory compensation decision.?

The full text of the article is posted on the Internet at:
http://www.jacksonlewis.com/legalupdates/article.cfm?aid=1616

Full post as published by New York Public Personnel Law on February 04, 2009 (boomark / email).