President Obama Makes Gender Equality Legally Binding in US Workplaces

By Philip Fernando in Los Angeles for Sri Lanka Guardian

(January 30, Los Angeles, Sri Lanka Guardian) History was made in the US as President Barack Obama signed his first Bill making gender equality a legal requirement at the work place. It took decades in coming but became a reality as Obama was surrounded by a group of jubilant lawmakers, both Democrats and Republican, in the East Room of the White House as he affixed his signature to the Lilli Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a law named for an Alabama woman who at the end of a 19-year career as a supervisor in a tire factory complained that she had been paid less than men holding similar positions. Her case that went before the Supreme Court was of no avail last year.

Congress approved the legislation that expands workers’ rights to sue in this kind of case, relaxing the statute of limitations. You can do it whenever you want and there is no time limit now. “It is fitting that with the very first bill I sign — the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act — we are upholding one of this nation’s first principles: that we are all created equal and each deserve a chance to pursue our own version of happiness,” president Obama said.

He added that signing the bill not only in honor of Ms. Ledbetter — who stood behind him, but in honor of his own grandmother, “who worked in a bank all her life, and even after she hit that glass ceiling, kept getting up again” and for his daughters, “because I want them to grow up in a nation that values their contributions, where there are no limits to their dreams.”

The ceremony at the East Room was packed with civil rights and workers rights groups; the legislators from the — Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, both of Maine — shook Obama’s hand effusively. It was also the First Lady Michelle Obama’s debut at an official function of that stature. She said “Ms. Ledbetter was one of my favorite people.”

Obama used the Ledbetter’s story almost every week during his campaign to emphasize the need for equality at the work place. Ledbetter appeared at the Democratic Convention in Denver. The story was heard over and over again. She took it to court and the jury found her employer, the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company plant in Gadsden, Ala., guilty of pay discrimination. It was appealed and in a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court threw out the case, ruling that she should have filed her suit within 180 days of the date that Goodyear first paid her less than her peers.

Congress tried to pass a law that would have effectively overturned the decision. Then President George W Bush opposed the bill; the argument was that it would encourage lawsuits and argued that employees could delay filing their claims in the hope of reaping bigger rewards. But the new Congress passed the bill, which restarts the six-month clock every time the worker receives a pay check.

Ms. Ledbetter would not be entitled to any money now as the new law cannot be used retroactively. She got the satisfaction of knowing that thousands after her could use the new legislation. “Goodyear will never have to pay me what it cheated me out of,” she said. “In fact, I will never see a cent. But with the president’s signature today I have an even richer reward.” Gender equality is a reality in the country. - Sri Lanka Guardian