SHAHEEN JOINS LILLY LEDBETTER, SENATE COLLEAGUES TO DISCUSS LEDBETTER FAIR PAY ACT
(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen joined Lilly Ledbetter, founder and co-President of the National Women’s Law Center Marcia Greenberger, and Senators Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Patty Murray (D-WA), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) to discuss the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act today. The Act ensures that all Americans are paid the same wage regardless of their age, gender, race or ethnicity.
“I’m honored today to join Lilly Ledbetter and this group of inspiring women in support of the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act,” said Shaheen. “When I served on the New Hampshire Commission on the Status of Women in the 1980’s, women made 59 cents on the dollar compared to men. Today, they still only make 77 cents on the dollar. This is unacceptable. The fight for equality will not come with a single speech or a single piece of legislation, but the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is an important step in the long struggle toward justice.”
Lilly Ledbetter stated: “Women from all over the country have told me how they are paid less for doing the same job as their male colleagues – and now there’s nothing they can do. Congress has the opportunity to restore the promise that the Supreme Court broke in my case and to protect women from pay discrimination by enacting the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.”
Lilly Ledbetter worked at the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in Alabama for over 20 years without knowing that she was receiving less pay than her male counterparts. She sued the company for pay discrimination, and in 2007 the Supreme Court rejected her claim by a single vote and held that victims of discrimination must bring their claims within 180 days of the initial act of discrimination.
The Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was written to remedy the Supreme Court’s decision by amending Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 so the statute of limitations runs from the date of the actual payment of a discriminatory wage, not just from the initial act of discrimination.
