Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act Of 2009 - Continued

Floor Speech

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Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, soon we will be voting on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, S. 181. The House of Representatives has already passed this legislation by a vote of 247 to 171. Passing this bill today will send a clear message that our country will not tolerate unequal pay for equal work.

As astonishing as it is, in the year 2009, women earn, on average, only 77 cents for every do llar earned by men in comparable jobs. What a truly unthinkable, and frankly disgraceful, circumstance--one that we must do everything within our power to change. Today we have the opportunity to take a small but very significant step in making sure that Americans have the legal opportunity to challenge pay discrimination.

Lilly Ledbetter was a loyal employee at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company for 19 years. At first, her salary was in line with that of her male colleagues, but over time she got smaller raises creating a significant pay gap. Ms. Ledbetter was not aware of this pay discrimination until she received an anonymous note detailing the salaries of three male coworkers. After filing a complaint with the Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission, her case went to trial and the jury awarded her $3.3 million in compensatory and punitive damages due to the extreme pay discrimination she endured.

The Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed this verdict, arguing that Ms. Ledbetter filed her complaint too late. If you asked anyone on the street, they would tell you that this decision goes against the citizens of this country's sense of right and wrong. How was she to know that this discrimination was happening? Ms. Ledbetter was already facing sexual harassment at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. and told by her boss that he didn't think a woman should be working there. To argue that Ms. Ledbetter should have asked her male counterparts what their salaries were at the moment she suspected disc rimination defies common sense. This topic was off limits, as it is in most work places. It is clearly not her fault she didn't discover this inequity sooner.

In 2007, the Supreme Court upheld the Eleventh Circuit ruling in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. and, as a result, took us a step back in time. It gutted a key part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that has protected hardworking Americans from pay discrimination for 45 years by making it extraordinarily difficult for victims of pay discri mination to sue their employers.

The bill before us overturns the Court's 5-4 decision and reinstates prior law. It ensures that victims of pay discrimination will not be penalized if they are unaware of wage disparities. I am happy to say that we will have the opportunity today to protect millions of hardworking Americans and reverse the unreasonable and unfair Ledbetter decision. I call on all of my Senate colleagues to vote in favor of this bill, which will send a clear signal that pay discri mination is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

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