President Obama Signs Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into Law
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, signed into law on this day by President Barack Obama, revised the established requirement involving the deadline for filing equal pay discrimination suits.
The established deadline required that suits be filed within 180 days from the first paycheck the employee received. The new statute of limitations begins with the each new paycheck.
The law was prompted by the Supreme Court decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber, decided on May 29, 2007, which ruled against Lilly Ledbetter because she had not filed her complaint within the required 180 days after receiving her first paycheck.
The Equal Pay Act was signed into law by President John F. Kennedy on June 10, 1963.
Read her personal account: Lilly Ledbetter, Grace and Grit: My Fight for Equal Pay and Fairness at Goodyear and Beyond (2012)
Read President Obama’s remarks: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-barack-obama-lilly-ledbetter-fair-pay-restoration-act-bill-signin
Hear Lilly Ledbetter speak: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHQDIsd5CW0