Equal Pay For Equal Work

Today is Equal Pay Day. The idea is that it takes until April 22, 2008 for women to earn as much as men did in the calendar year of 2007. This is especially significant this year because the Congress is trying to overturn a Supreme Court ruling that essentially banned the opportunity for anyone to sue over pay discrimination.

Equal pay advocates are mobilizing to urge the Senate to pass the Fair Pay Restoration Act (S. 1843), also known as the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. The bill would restore the ability of U.S. workers to sue for pay discrimination. The House passed the legislation in July 2007, and the Senate is expected to take it up next week.

If enacted, the act would reverse a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision dismissing a suit by Lilly Ledbetter, an employee for 19 years at a tire plant in Gadsden, Ala., who says she was paid less than her male counterparts.

The Supreme Court said she did not file her lawsuit against Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. within 180 days after the discrimination occurred, as required by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The court let the company off the hook by calculating the deadline from the day Goodyear made its original decision to pay her less than her male colleagues. The law had previously made it clear that the clock did not start until she received her last discriminatory paycheck. The bill would remove the 180-day limit.

Take action. Call 202-224-3121 or click here to send an e-mail urging your senator to vote for S. 1843.

The Supreme Court does not only judge abortion rights or gun laws or the death penalty. In many cases Supreme Court rulings have a distinct and serious economic impact, and with the corporatists and royalists George Bush has put on the Court we'll be feeling that legacy for some time. The Congress has an opportunity here to reverse one of their most horrible rulings, and tee it up for the next Democratic President to sign (George Bush certainly won't).

The ACLU has more.