Binro the Heretic - 2015-08-23
Up until 2009, there was a 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit against an employer.
A woman named Lilly Ledbetter only found out she was being paid substantially less when a male coworker accidentally left his paycheck stub sitting out on the desk in full view of passers-by. Goodyear Tire & Rubber, the company Ledbetter worked for, had a strict policy forbidding employees from discussing how much they were paid.
When Ledbetter found out, she sued. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court where it was decided against her because the pay discrimination had started years prior, well outside the statute of limitations. That she filed the lawsuit within the statute of limitations after finding out it was going on didn't matter.
A new bill to fix the loophole was drafted. Republicans defeated it in 2007, but President Barack Obama signed it into law in 2009.
Thanks to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay act, the 180-day statute of limitations now applies to every paycheck, not just the first one.
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