In the News: Obama Signs Anti-Wage Discrimination Legislation

President Obama has signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, an anti-wage discrimination bill approved by Congress earlier in the week. The act relaxes the statute of limitations on wage discrimination lawsuits, making clear that each new paycheck is a violation of the law if it results “in whole or in part” from a discriminatory pay decision made in the past. The legislation also allows retirees to argue that their pension benefits are based on wages that were depressed by unlawful discrimination. The bill is named after a longtime female supervisor at a Goodyear tire plant in Alabama who accused the company of paying her less because of her gender. Her lawsuit against Goodyear was rejected by the Supreme Court in 2007.

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