Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. House today passed two measures to make it more difficult for employers to pay women less than men for the same job and removed some legal barriers for women seeking damages when wage discrimination has occurred.  The legislation, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and Paycheck Fairness Act, were approved on largely party-line votes, with nearly all Democrats voting yes and nearly all Republicans voting no.

“The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act corrects an injustice imposed on all working women by the U.S. Supreme Court,” said Rep. Neil Abercrombie.  “The Court upheld a completely illogical time limit on the filing of a wage discrimination lawsuit even though the victim didn’t learn for years that she was being paid less than her male counterparts.

Lilly Ledbetter was a tire plant supervisor in Alabama for nearly 20 years. By the end of her career, she made nearly $7,000 less than the lowest-paid man in the same position, but never would have known if a co-worker hadn’t provided proof.  She took her employer to court and won, yet the Supreme Court overturned the judgment and decided that she was entitled to nothing because she hadn’t filed suit within180 days of her first paycheck years before.  In their ruling, the Justices decided that women had six months to determine that they were being paid unfairly or were out of luck forever.

“Such absurd logic was never the intent of Congress when it passed the Equal Pay Act of 1963,” said Abercrombie.  “We’ve clarified that, if a woman is the victim of pay discrimination, each paycheck is another act of discrimination.”

The Paycheck Fairness Act puts gender-based discrimination on the same footing as other forms of wage discrimination by allowing women to sue for compensatory and punitive damages.

“The U.S. Census Bureau has found that women still make about 78 cents for every dollar earned by a man,” Abercrombie said.  “It’s amazing.  This kind of discrimination ought to be something we talk about in history classes, not the halls of Congress,” said Abercrombie.

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