6-05-07, 9:40 am
WASHINGTON (PAI)-- By a 5-4 margin, the Supreme Court voted on May 29 to limit a woman’s right to challenge lifetime pay discrimination on the job. Supporters of equal pay said the ruling shows the need to change the law to let her sue for past lost wages.
The all-male all-GOP-appointed majority said a woman who suffered gradual pay discrimination over her working career could not sue for lost back wages for her entire working time--only just for the losses she suffered within 180 days of filing the case.
The ruling just highlights the need for stronger legislation to close the equal pay gap, says a top sponsor of proposed laws to close that chasm, now 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. The lawmaker, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), called the ruling “astounding.”
“This decision further cements a woman’s disadvantage in the labor marketplace by ensuring a safe harbor for employers who have paid female workers less than men over a long period of time--basically giving the worst actors a free pass to go on with systemic gender discrimination,” he said after the court split on ideological lines.
The decision was so upsetting to the sole female justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, that she took the unusual move of reading her dissent, which the other three dissenters signed, from the High Court bench. “The court (majority) does not comprehend, or is indifferent to, the insidious way in which women can be victims of pay discrimination,” Ginsburg declared. She asked Congress to fix the mess.
In the case, Lilly Ledbetter, the sole female supervisor at a Goodyear Tire plant in Gadsden. Ala., sued Goodyear for sex discrimination during her long years on the job, after she retired. Lower courts all the way up to the High Court agreed with her that discrimination occurred, paycheck by paycheck, and awarded her $3.5 million in damages.
But the majority justices, acting on an appeal by Goodyear and its business allies--including the Chamber of Commerce--did not. It said Ledbetter could sue only within 180 days of the actual discrimination, as the law is written, not paycheck by paycheck over the years. The Chamber crowed over the ruling.
Harkin agreed with Ginsburg that Congress must fix the sexual pay discrimination the Ledbetter case ratified, which he said is rampant in the workplace and which grows. “This reflects a poor understanding of the real problems with long-term pay discrimination. Generally, new employees feel less comfortable challenging their salaries, and it is very difficult to determine when pay discrimination begins. A small pay gap tends to widen over time, only becoming noticeable when there is systemic discrimination over a period of years,” Harkin said. The ruling “underscores the need for tighter legislative restrictions on discrimination against women in the workplace.”
From International Labor Communications Association
