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Ledbetter passes the House!

Rachel

Woo! Suck it, U.S. Chamber. A vote’s expected next week in the week in the Senate, so don’t forget to make your calls, if you haven’t already. I know a few folks commented the other day that they called Congress for the first time ever, and that’s seriously fantastic. I can’t stress enough how important it is. Trust me, I understand – I don’t even like to call pizza places, so I get it might be nerve wracking to call a senator’s office. But listen. All they want to hear is, “My name is Rachel and I’m an Ohio voter.* I’m calling to urge the senator to support the Paycheck Fairness Act and Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Thank you.” Voice of the people!

From RH Reality Check:

In the spring of 2007, the Supreme Court told Lilly Ledbetter, a twenty-year employee of Goodyear Tire in Alabama, that if she wanted to take legal action against the wage discrimination she had suffered, she should have filed a complaint within 180 days of the first discriminatory paycheck she received.  Since she hadn’t, she had no standing to recover decades of lost wages.  The Supreme Court did not make it clear how Ledbetter was supposed to have known that she was being discriminated against after only 180 days on the job, seeing that Goodyear forbade employees from discussing their salaries, and Ledbetter only found out years later, thanks to an anonymous note.

Today Congress took a step toward correcting that injustice.  The House passed both the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act, restoring and establishing basic protections for employees who are subject to wage discrimination.  The Ledbetter Act repeals the 180 day requirement, while the Paycheck Fairness Act protects employees from retaliation by employers if they bring complaints and allows them to sue for compensatory and punitive damages.  With news today that unemployment this month has hit 7.2%, a 16-year high, any protections for workers are welcome.

The Senate is expected to take up the equal pay legislation next week.  House supporters of the legislation predicted that it could be among the first bills President-elect Obama signs into law.

*I’m actually a DC voter, but see, since we don’t have senators…

8 thoughts on Ledbetter passes the House!

  4. Let’s not get too happy about this passing the House. All kinds of shit passes the House. Most of it goes nowhere.

    The Senate is the hard part, especially now that the GOP has decided to filibuster everything. So yes, call your Senator.

    Or, better yet, write a letter. Letters get more weight because it takes more effort to send a letter than it does to make a phone call or send an email.

  5. Emails and calls have a far greater chance of getting through, and in a timely manner.

    Gidget – my job involves pitching reporters, so I’m on the phone all day. I just know a lot of people aren’t. Still don’t like calling pizza places, though…

  7. I sent e-mail.

    I also told my congresscritters that I wanted them to work towards changing the law so that the conservatives can’t hide behind ERISA whenever states enact tougher protections for citizens and other workers than the federal government does.

    I am sick and tired of the cons using ERISA to strip rights away from individuals in favor of corporations.

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