[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 3 (Thursday, January 8, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H83]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page H83]]
    EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR H.R. 11, THE LILLY LEDBETTER FAIR PAY ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, today I am here to express my support of 
the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. I would like to commend and indeed 
applaud my colleagues Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro and Chairman George 
Miller of the Education and Labor Committee for their tireless efforts 
in support of fair treatment in the workplace. Jobs are on everyone's 
mind, and I rise in support today of H.R. 11, not only because it is 
the right thing to do, but also because, for me, it is personal.
  When our beloved mother, Anastasia, began work back in the middle of 
the last century as a counter waitress at a place called Liberty Lunch 
on Broadway in Toledo, Ohio, she did not even earn the minimum wage. 
And I will tell you what; she deserved it. That wage was only made 
possible by the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938. But even when that 
act passed, her vile boss would then cash her check and deduct the 
increase from her and pocket the money for himself. Sadly, stories of 
pay discrimination and inequity still reside across our country.
  The Lilly Ledbetter bill is named after Lilly Ledbetter, who worked 
for almost 20 years at a Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company plant in 
Gadsden, Alabama. After finding out that she was the lowest paid 
supervisor at the plant where she worked, despite the fact that she had 
more experience than her male counterparts, Lilly sued Goodyear for 
unlawfully discriminating against her based on gender.
  A jury found in her favor, but, of course, Goodyear, which has deep 
pockets and in fact is a defense contractor of our country, went to 
court. In fact, they had the money to go all the way to the Supreme 
Court, and the Supreme Court ruled in favor not of Lilly, but of 
Goodyear.
  The Court cited the reason being that the time limit for her claim 
had passed as the initial discrimination happened nearly 20 years 
earlier. However, Lilly Ledbetter filed her charge as soon as she 
learned of the pay discrimination. It was not her fault that it took 
almost 20 years to learn of her situation.
  The United States Supreme Court's decision changes the law, limiting 
any action to 180 days after the first incident of discriminatory 
activity. In such cases as Lilly Ledbetter's, it took nearly 20 years 
to have the discrimination come to light. This decision limits the 
ability of any employee to challenge discriminatory pay.
  H.R. 11 will restore the law and justice by clarifying that each 
paycheck resulting from a discriminatory pay decision would constitute 
a new violation of the employment nondiscrimination law and reset the 
180-day clock.
  Employees do not go around asking each other how much money they earn 
on each paycheck. In fact, many employers even explicitly prohibit such 
conversations. It is not like working for Congress, where our pay is 
public record. In addition, who would want to go around when they are 
at a new job and ask new coworkers their income and level of work 
experience as well as other data to evaluate if one's own pay is fair, 
knowing you have 180 days from your first paycheck to file with the 
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission? Who would want to start a 
job like that?

                              {time}  1515

  Most new employees are more focused on doing their job and working 
hard and performing well so that he or she can keep their new position 
and continue to earn paychecks. In today's climate, an income is more 
critical than worrying about pay discrimination, but that too should 
not allow this practice to continue.
  We cannot allow employers to hide behind a mere 180 days and 
potentially successfully carry out pay discrimination day after day.
  Madam Speaker, that is why I'm an original cosponsor of the Lilly 
Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. It's in memory of our own mother. This bill is 
not only about pay discrimination on the basis of gender, but also 
race, religion, national origin, disability or age. This bill is about 
doing the right thing to protect the hardworking people of this Nation.
  I urge my colleagues to support this important bill as we begin the 
111th Congress, and I want to thank Lilly Ledbetter for her life and 
for the life of working-class women and men across this country.
  Madam Speaker, thank you very much for the opportunity today to 
support the Lilly Ledbetter Act of 2009, H.R. 11.

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