Pay Discrimination Legislation Stalls in Senate
Yesterday, the U.S. Senate declined to advance legislation aimed at loosening tight filing deadlines imposed by the Supreme Court on wage discrimination claims.
The 56-42 vote fell four votes shy of the 60 needed to trigger consideration of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, named after an Alabama woman who lost a lawsuit against Goodyear last year when the Supreme Court ruled that she failed to file her complaint on time. In that case, the Court adopted a strict deadline for filing wage discrimination claims — 180 days from the date the first paycheck is received.
Not too surprisingly, the vote prompted Democrats to attack Republicans and Republicans to attack Democrats. Democrats accused Republicans of being soft on discrimination and insensitive to minority workers. Republicans accused Democrats of encouraging outdated litigation and of election-year “gotcha” politics.
The bill’s sponsors, led by Ted Kennedy, contend that the Court’s 180-day rule allows employers to hide unlawful pay decisions for six months and then be “free to discriminate” thereafter. “We won’t take no for an answer,” he said yesterday. “This issue isn’t going away.”
Stay tuned.
