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• Lilly Ledbetter is an Alabama grandmother who filed a lawsuit against her employer, Goodyear, after learning she had been paid lower wages than her male counterparts. Ledbetter took her case to the Supreme Court.

  On January 22, 2009, the Senate passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in a vote of 61 to 36.National Women's Law Center: Senate Passage of Ledbetter bill Victory... (January 22, 2009) President Barack Obama signed the act into affect on January 29, 2009, it was the first bill he signed when he took office. He said the act was "only the beginning" in closing pay gaps and thanked Lilly Ledbetter.National Women's Law Center: Senate Passage of Ledbetter bill Victory... (January 22, 2009)

• Fast Facts

  1. Wage discrepancy occurred over 19 yearsDepartment of Labor: Transcript (PDF)
  2. Ledbetter earned $3700 per month at retirementDepartment of Labor: Transcript (PDF)
  3. Male counterparts earned between $4200 and $5200 per month for the same workDepartment of Labor: Transcript (PDF)
  4. Tip received on piece of paper anonymously placed in her office mailboxDepartment of Labor: Transcript (PDF)
  5. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on the Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. in 2007National Women's Law Center: Senate Passage of Ledbetter bill Victory... (January 22, 2009)
  6. Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act signed by President Barack Obama on January 29, 2009National Women's Law Center: Senate Passage of Ledbetter bill Victory... (January 22, 2009)

• Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay

  Lilly Ledbetter sued Goodyear after learning she was paid less then her male counterparts. Ledbetter learned about the wage discrepancy after she received an anonymous tip. Although Ledbetter was originally awarded $3.6 million dollars in damages, she lost the lawsuit on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The court stated that Goodyear's treatment of Ledbetter was not against Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The majority opinion stated that Ledbetter only had 180 days after the wage discrepancy to file a complaint, even though she had no way of knowing about the discrimination.Department of Labor: Transcript (PDF) Ledbetter spoke at the Denver Democratic Convention on August 26, 2008.Democratic National Convention: Ledbetter to Address Convention (August 18, 2008)

• Quote

  "I only started to get some hard evidence of what men were making when someone anonymously left a piece of paper in my mailbox at work, showing what I got paid and what three other male managers were getting paid. Shortly after that, I filed another complaint of discrimination with the EEOC in 1998, when I got transferred from my management job to a job doing manual labor, requiring me to lift 80 pound tires all shift long. A little while after I filed my EEOC complaint, someone sent me an anonymous package showing what the other male managers were getting paid compared to me...The Supreme Court took it all away, even the backpay. They said I should have complained every time I got a smaller raise than the men, even if I didn’t know what the men were getting paid and even if I had no way to prove that the decision was discrimination. They said that once 180 days passes after the pay decision is made, the worker is stuck with unequal pay for equal work under Title VII for the rest of her career and there is nothing illegal about that under the statute." — Lilly Ledbetter, Testimony regarding the amendment of Title VII (June 12, 2007)Department of Labor: Transcript (PDF)

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