Mrs. Lilly Ledbetter, wife, mother of two and former employee of Goodyear Tire, is the source behind President Barack Obama’s signing the Fair Pay Act as his first piece of legislation when he took office in 2009. As of 2009, the National Women’s Law Center estimated that on average, women are paid only 78 cents for each dollar men are paid for comparable work. The Fair Pay Act prohibits wage discrimination based on sex, race or national origin among employees for work in “equivalent jobs.” Equivalent jobs are those whose skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions are equivalent in value, even if the jobs are not similar.
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As an extension of the 1963 Equal Pay Act, which is limited to sex-based discrimination in the same jobs, the Fair Pay Act allows class action lawsuits to be filed and also provides for compensatory and punitive damages. Additionally this Fair Pay Act requires some employers to disclose to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) general job classifications and their pay statistics, yet, prohibits a company from lowering any employee’s wage rate in order to implement fair pay.
According to her website, Mrs. Ledbetter was anonymously informed via a note in 1998 that she was making thousands of dollars less a year than her male counterparts in the same management position. Though she filed and won a sex discrimination case against Goodyear, she lost on appeal and lost again eight years later on the US Supreme Court level. Not to be deterred, Mrs. Ledbetter adopted Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s advice (per her dissent on the Supreme Court decision) and continued to press forward in her quest of obtaining fair pay for those who had been discriminated against due to their gender. This perseverance ultimately led to President Obama’s signing of the Fair Pay Act.
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If you suspect that you are receiving unfair pay, due to sex-based discrimination, you should try to resolve the issue with your supervisor and human resources first. If you are unsuccessful, be certain to educate yourself on your rights, keep accurate evidence (i.e. – witnesses, documentation, conversations) and seek legal consultation.
For more information on the Fair Pay Act and your rights, please visit The Department of Labor.
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Rashida Maples, Esq. is Founder and Managing Partner of J. Maples & Associates (www.jmaplesandassociates.com). She has practiced Entertainment, Real Estate and Small Business Law for 9 years, handling both transactional and litigation matters. Her clients include R&B Artists Bilal and Olivia, NFL Superstar Ray Lewis, Fashion Powerhouse Harlem’s Fashion Row, KinderJam, LLC and Hirschfeld Properties, LLC.
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