[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 129 (Tuesday, September 4, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1785]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  LILLY LEDBETTER FAIR PAY ACT OF 2007

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. BETTY McCOLLUM

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 31, 2007

  Ms. McCOLLUM of Minnesota. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong 
support of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to restore important 
protections for victims of pay discrimination.
  On May 29, 2007, in a 5-4 ruling the Supreme Court issued a decision 
in the case of Ledbetter v. Goodyear making it much more difficult for 
workers discriminated against on the basis of sex, race, color, 
religion, national origin, or age to sue their employers because of 
disparate pay.
  In this decision, the Court ruled that Lilly Ledbetter, a former 
supervisor at a tire plant in Alabama, was not eligible to receive back 
pay for pay discrimination because she had not filed her claim within 
180 days after the first ``unlawful employment practice occurred.''
  However, as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg highlighted in her dissent, 
pay discrimination occurs over time in small increments and is 
frequently not discovered for many years. It is more than disappointing 
that this decision increases the barriers to fair compensation for 
victims of pay discrimination.
  The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, of which I am a cosponsor, will 
allow pay discrimination claims to be filed within 180 days of the 
issuance of any discriminatory paycheck, not necessarily the first 
paycheck as the Supreme Court ruled. This legislation restores the 
previously established interpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights 
Act.
  H.R. 2831 makes it clear to employers and employees alike that pay 
discrimination is unacceptable. It is unacceptable from the moment the 
first discriminatory paycheck is issued until the day that worker 
receives the compensation s/he earned.
  Madam Speaker, pay discrimination is unjust and it is illegal. I urge 
my colleagues to join me in supporting fairness for working families 
and voting for H.R. 2831.

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