LEGISLATION EXPECTED TO OVERTURN LEDBETTER RULING

by Patricia A. Schaeffer, Vice President-Regulatory Affairs

UPDATE: The House bill passed on July 31, 2007.

Democrats are expected to introduce legislation in the U.S. Senate this week to overturn the Supreme Court’s ruling in a highly controversial pay discrimination lawsuit (Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.).

Senators Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) have announced they will introduce legislation to ensure that workers are able to enforce their legal right to equal pay. They said the bill will remove a technical hurdle created by the Supreme Court’s ruling that they feel makes it far more difficult for women and others to receive equal pay for equal work. Representatives Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), George Miller (D-CA) and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) have also announced that they will introduce companion legislation in the House of Representatives.

The Supreme Court’s five to four ruling in the Ledbetter case limits the ability of women and other employees to sue their employers for pay discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote a vigorous dissent calling on Congress to amend the law to correct the Court’s ruling.