A Call to Arms: Women unite for pay equity and fairness

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The House passed legislation this past Friday designed to strengthen the ability of workers to combat wage discrimination. House Launches New Labor Agenda With Wage Discrimination Bills

The measure (HR 11), known as the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (Lily Ledbetter, pictured at right), is designed to reverse a 2007 Supreme Court decision that made it impossible for workers to sue for wage discrimination they discovered only years after it initially occurred. The House bill would clarify that each paycheck resulting from discrimination would constitute a new violation, extending the 180 day statute of limitations. It was passed by 247-171 and sent to the Senate.

The bill simply brings the Equal Pay Act into conformity with long-standing practice under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, known as the "continuing violation theory." Under this theory, the 180 days limitations period runs from the last act of discrimination and can relate back to encompass prior acts of discrimination to establish a pattern and practice of discrimination. The Roberts Supreme Court wrongly declined to apply this long-standing civil rights law practice to Equal Pay Act claims.

Conservative activist judges have used the Ledbetter decision like a club in 347 cases involving pay discrimination and other issues such as fair housing and the availability of sports programs for women. This cancer must be eradicated.

The House also voted 256-163 for a second bill (HR 12), known as the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would require employers seeking to justify unequal pay for male and female workers to prove that such disparities are job-related and required by a business necessity. It would bar retaliation by employers against employees who share salary information with their co-workers, and allow workers to collect both compensatory and punitive damages.

Again, this bill brings the burden of proof and damages provisions of the Equal Pay Act into conformity with long-standing practice under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the Civil Rights Act of 1991, signed into law by President George H. W. Bush, no less. This is hardly something new or unanticipated; it is simply corrective amendments to the Equal Pay Act.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., who first introduced the legislation 12 years ago, said that, with women still earning only 78 cents for every dollar men earn in the same job, Congress has to strengthen the law. "It is our moment to fight for economic freedom," she said. "To do anything less would be to shortchange women and their families everywhere."

Under the rule governing the debate, that measure was combined with the Lilly Ledbetter bill and sent to the Senate as a package.

The Ledbetter bill could reach the Senate floor as early as this week. Democrats, who have increased their majority in the Senate, last year fell three votes short of shutting off a GOP-led filibuster that blocked the bill after it passed the House. Democrats begin new session with labor bills

Republican opponents of the two measures argued that they would foster lawsuits against businesses and mainly benefit trial lawyers.

These would be the same Republicans who waxed indignant when it was discovered that the Bush administration was illegally eavesdropping on American citizens, and sniffed that "if you are a law abiding citizen who hasn't violated the law, you have nothing to fear." Well, same to you, buddy! Those businesses who make a good faith effort to comply with the laws and treat their employees fairly have little to fear from lawsuits.

It is those businesses who have a reputation for spending more time, effort and money to find ways to circumvent the laws, and yes, to hire a team of highly paid lawyers to sue in court to undermine these laws (yeah, I'm talking about you Wal-Mart) who are actually the most litigious.

You see, Republicans don't mind businesses suing. It is only you, the lowly individual who usually doesn't have enough money to hire a lawyer to enforce your legal rights, that Republicans want to bar from the court house door. That's what Republicans really mean when they say "tort reform."

These bills may be heard in the Senate as early as this week. You need to write and call your Republican obstructionist Senators Jon Kyl and John McCain today and demand pay equity and fairness for women. Let them know that this is a bright-line litmus test issue for you. If they vote against women, women will vote against them should they run for reelection. Should Kyl and McCain support a filibuster and/or vote against these bills, their actions will not be forgotten nor forgiven.