Congressional Women Rally For Fair Pay

Statement

Today House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Congresswoman Lois Capps (CA-23) joined with Senate and House Democratic women and guest Lilly Ledbetter to call for passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in both chambers. The rally drew attention to Democrats' commitment to ensure equal pay for all working people regardless of their gender. Ensuring fairness in the workplace is critically important, particularly at a time when so many Americans are struggling to make ends meet in these challenging economic times.

"Equal pay is an issue of fundamental fairness. As families grapple with difficult economic times, it is also often about daily survival for millions of families," Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. "For those reasons, we must work together to bring the Paycheck Fairness Act to the floor for the vote it deserves."

"When women earn less, their entire family suffers," said Capps, Chair of the Democratic Women's Working Group. "When we allow women to be paid unequal wages for equal work, we as a society are tolerating discrimination. It's not just a matter of fairness, for many families it's a matter of economic survival. We must take action to close the wage gap, pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act immediately and urge the President to quickly sign it into law for the benefit of millions of hard working women and their families."

Capps is an original cosponsor of this legislation, which was introduced in response to the Supreme Court ruling in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. This ruling limited the ability of women and other employees to sue employers for pay discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The Supreme Court's 5-4 decision effectively overturned longstanding precedence by insisting that employees had to file charges of pay discrimination within 180 days of the employer's first discriminatory paycheck. This ruling ignored the reality of most workplaces where employees generally do not know enough about how much their co-workers earn, or how pay decisions are made, to file a complaint precisely when discrimination first occurs. This legislation restores and clarifies the traditional interpretation of discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act so that workers will be able to file a complaint within 180 days of any discriminatory paycheck, rather than just the first discriminatory paycheck.

The House passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act on July 31, 2007. The Senate considered similar legislation on April 23, 2008 but the measure failed to garner enough votes to reach cloture. Senate leaders hope to consider the measure again later this year.

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