Constitutional Law

White House Threatens To Veto Employment Discrimination Legislation

Yesterday, the White House threatened to veto legislation that "would make it easier for victims of discrimination to sue their employers over unequal pay," the Washington Post reported. The legislation, known as the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007, seeks to overturn a 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber. In that case, the Court narrowly interpreted employment discrimination law to prohibit a lawsuit for gender-based pay discrimination unless the discrimination occurred within 180 days of the plaintiff's filing suit, regardless of when she found out about the discrimination. A Congressional Research Service Report explained the issues at play in Ledbetter:

In Ledbetter, the female plaintiff alleged that past sex discrimination had resulted in lower pay increases and that these past pay decisions continued to affect the amount of her pay throughout her employment, resulting in a significant pay disparity between her and her male colleagues by the end of her nearly twenty year career. Under Title VII, a plaintiff is required to file suit within 180 days after an alleged unlawful employment practice has occurred. Although the plaintiff in Ledbetter argued that each paycheck she received constituted a new violation of the statute and therefore reset the clock with regard to filing a claim, the Court rejected this argument, reasoning that even if employees suffer continuing effects from past discrimination, their claims are time barred unless filed within the specified number of days of the original discriminatory act.

Catherine Fisk, Duke University professor of law, previewed the Ledbetter case in this blog post. Fatima Goss Graves, Senior Counsel at the National Women's Law Center, provided additional analysis of the case and the legislation before Congress. The Post also ran this editorial. ACS explored three other employment discrimination cases before the Court in this press briefing from February 2008.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on April 23, 2008 (boomark / email).