House Committee Approves Bill to Overturn Pay Discrimination Ruling
The House Education and Labor Committee has approved a bill to overturn the Supreme Court's pay discrimination ruling in Ledbetter vs. Goodyear Tire.
On May 29th, the Court ruled that Lily Ledbetter (a manager at Goodyear Tire whose salary was 15 to 40 percent below her male colleagues) could not claim pay discrimination because she filed her case more than 180 days after Goodyear unlawfully decided to pay her less—even though she continued to receive discriminatorily low paychecks at the time.
The Court's decision flew in the face of many women's experiences of wage discrimination. As Ms. Ledbetter testified before the House committee earlier this month, pay discrepancies often emerge over a period of years and employees often do not have access to information about how they are paid compared to their co-workers. In addition, employees may not come forward right away because of fear of retaliation—especially in male-dominated work environments.
The “Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007” would clarify Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to allow employees to file pay discrimination charges within 180 days of their last discriminatory pay check—not their first, as the Supreme Court held. This clarification would also apply to discrimination protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
The bill would also ensure that under the Civil Rights Act employees can claim up to two years of back pay in from successful wage discrimination suits.
The Committee passed “Ledbetter Fair Pay Act” in a 25-20 vote that split down partisan lines, with all Democrats voting for and all Republicans voting against.
Several Senators have also said they will introduce legislation to protect workers' rights to challenge pay discrimination, including Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Tom Harkin (I-IA), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD).
House Kicks Off WIA Renewal Process with Hearing
On Thursday, June 28th, the House Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness held its first hearing this year on reauthorizing the Workforce Investment Act—the federal job training law that authorizes the nation's system of One-Stop Career Centers.
The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) has been up for reauthorization since 2003. Because Congress was not able to complete work to reauthorize the law by the end of the 109 th Congress, the process of renewing and improving the system must start anew this year.
Recommendations offered during the hearing included:
- Eliminating the “sequence of services”—the rigid requirement that individuals must first receive core services (i.e. using a computer to do job searches) before they are eligible for intensive services (i.e assessment and case management), and must receive both core and intensive services before they are eligible for training.
- Improving data collection and performance measurement.
- Improving and increasing employer partnerships.
In addition, several witnesses and Members of Congress stressed the need to improve the system for women and men with multiple barriers to employment. In his opening remarks, Subcommittee Chairman Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX) stated, “We need to make sure that our program structures and performance measures do not provide disincentives to reaching English language learners, adults with disabilities, migrant and seasonal farm workers, adults with low levels of education and low levels of literacy or others who may need multiple supports to achieve their full potential in the workplace.”
Committee staff plan to start drafting a WIA reauthorization bill later this summer. At this point, it is unclear to what extent the new bill will mirror past House or Senate proposals.
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