Lilly Ledbetter was employed by Goodyear Tire and Rubber for 19 years before she discovered that she was paid far less for the same work as her male peers were being paid. From 1979 to 1998 Lilly worked tirelessly at a Goodyear plant on an overnight shift where she was subjected daily to sexual discrimination and harassment.
Lilly signed a contract with her employer that she would not discuss pay rates with other workers. She had no way of knowing that she was being underpaid until just before her retirement when a source that remains anonymous today slipped a note into her mailbox. The note listed the salaries of three other men doing the same who were paid $4,286 to $5,236 per month. Lilly was only making $3,727 per month. When she filed a complaint with the EEOC, she was subsequently assigned to lift heavy tires.
She was in her 60s at the time, but she continued to perform the tasks her ruthless employer required of her.
Lilly had no idea she was being underpaid. She was prohibited from asking about or talking about pay wages. She did not have tangible evidence until she was ready to retire 19 years into her employment that she was being cheated. Ledbetter retired early and filed suit “asserting, among other things, a sex discrimination claim.”
Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that to have legal standing, a person must file a complaint within 180 of the first discriminatory pay practice – even if they did not know about it until much later. This allowed employers to get away with underpaying workers based on color, sex, or other discriminatory reasons as long as workers did not know about it and take legal immediate action.
Her story eventually got the attention of then US President Barack Obama and a new law was penned under her name, the “Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009″ was signed into law. The act allows individuals who face pay discrimination to seek rectification under federal anti-discrimination laws.
Lilly Ledbetter’s case against Goodyear cannot be re-tried, and the new law she helped to pass will not get her restitution from Goodyear. But she said, “I’ll be happy if the last thing they say about me after I die is that I made a difference.”
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**Source: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/personal-biography-of-lilly-ledbetter-3515861
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