What new Fair Pay Act means to you
January 29, 2009 by Bill MeltzerPosted in: Compensation, Compliance, Latest News & Views
President Obama is set to sign the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law today. Not everyone is celebrating.
The new law essentially scuttles a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that a person must file a claim of discrimination within 180 days of a company’s initial decision to pay a worker (usually female) less than another worker doing the same job.
Under the Fair Pay Act, each paycheck extends by an additional 180 days the statute of limitations for filing a discrimination lawsuit. Contrary to some reports, the new law will not change the current law that limits claimaints’ rights to back pay to two years.
Nevertheless, some employers are concerned about the impact of the bill, especially in a down economy. Opponents of the bill argued that it’d encourage more lawsuits and that crafty employees would wait as long as possible to file claims in hopes of reaping larger damage awards.
January 29th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Question – what happens when someone is aware that they are being paid less and does nothing about it? Does their inaction become a key point, even if they receive several more paychecks? I don’t see anything in the new law that addresses this.
May 28th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
I was hoping that there would be a lot more definition in what is “the same job” I have had many men being paid more based on a title, yet the job they actually do is essentially the same. I have also seen the reverse. Neither is fair if there is not a specific logical process or explanation for the difference. Once I was told a female manager deserved more because she had a college degree and the man did not. Fine except they were both dock managers at a freight company doing the same thing, same level of responsibility. And the degree? It was in Fashion Merchandising!