Ledbetter Fair Pay Act Makes Filing Pay Discrimination Claims Easier

July 12, 2009 by Beeson Tayer & Bodine

In late January President Obama signed into law the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. The Fair Pay Act overturns the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2007 decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire.

The Fair Pay Act applies to employment discrimination cases and resets the statute of limitations period with each paycheck issued to the employee, and whenever benefit or other compensation are paid. Employees may now resuscitate discrimination claims that involved decisions that are years or decades old, but have had an ongoing discriminatory effect, so long as a plaintiff can tie that decision to the employee’s compensation.

In the Ledbetter case the Supreme Court had ruled that the plaintiff filed her pay discrimination claim too late where she continued to be paid less than her male counterparts, but the decision to pay her less had been made more than a year prior to the filing of her complaint.

Last September Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have applied the same type of Fair Pay Act rules to claims brought under California’s discrimination laws.

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