Equal work, unequal pay

Victims of pay discrimination got no help from the Supreme Court this year. That's why Congress must act.

from the July 31, 2007 edition

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Jacksonville, Ala. - Imagine you've worked for a company for 20 years. You're a good performer. But unbeknownst to you, the company puts workers over 50 on a lower salary track. At 60, you learn that for the past 10 years, you have been earning less – tens of thousands of dollars less – than colleagues doing exactly the same work.

Think you have grounds for a suit? Think again.

The Supreme Court on May 29 ruled 5-4 in Ledbetter (that's me) v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. that workers don't have the right to sue for pay discrimination if they don't file a claim within 180 days after the decision is made to pay them less.

Now Congress has the opportunity to redress this injustice. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act will right this wrong. And it will have a profound impact on the working lives, and livelihoods, of Americans across the country.

This effort to bolster workers' right began in 1998 when I filed a sex discrimination suit with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. I did so because I discovered that the Goodyear plant in Gadsen, Ala., had been paying me significantly less than it paid my male counterparts.

My salary started out comparable to the male supervisors, but over the years, unbeknownst to me, my raises were always smaller. Eventually, I learned I was earning $3,727 a month while the lowest paid of my male colleagues got $4,286 – for doing the same job.

An Alabama jury awarded me more than $3 million after finding that Goodyear had violated my rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But a federal trial judge cut that award to $360,000, then an appellate court reversed the jury's decision and so I didn't even get the $360,000.

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