[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 127 (Friday, August 3, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1718]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  LILLY LEDBETTER FAIR PAY ACT OF 2007

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. PATRICK J. KENNEDY

                            of rhode island

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 31, 2007

  Mr. KENNEDY. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2831, the 
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. I want to thank the Chairman and Ranking 
Member for bringing this important bill to the House floor.
  H.R. 2831 is designed to be an important but narrow reversal of the 
Ledbetter decision, without upsetting any other current law. As many of 
us here today know, earlier this year, the Supreme Court decision 
Ledbetter versus Goodyear made it much harder for workers to pursue pay 
discrimination claims based on the fact that plaintiffs would need to 
file their charge of pay discrimination within 180 days of the 
employer's decision to pay them less.
  What was particularly disturbing about this decision was the fact 
that it stripped Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of its longstanding 
position that every paycheck resulting from an earlier discriminatory 
pay decision is considered a violation of the Civil Rights Act. The 
importance of this consideration of each and every paycheck is vital to 
the CRA.
  Furthermore, the Supreme Court decision was untenable. Employees 
often do not know what their co-workers earn, or how and when pay 
decisions are made. These dynamics in the workplace make it nearly 
impossible to file a complaint precisely when discrimination first 
occurs. Many times they find this out far after the fact, and thus need 
a filing deadline that takes this time delay into account.
  The bill before us today maintains the law's current statute of 
limitations and limits on back pay recovery. It states that an employee 
must still file a charge within the statutory filing period after 
receiving a discriminatory paycheck but would provide a realistic 
timeline consistent with the Civil Rights Act.
  Again, I thank the Chairman for bringing up this bill that calls 
attention to the fact that we need to make our pay discrimination laws 
work in a much more realistic and fair way for all parties involved.

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