Lilly Ledbetter
| Lilly Ledbetter | |
|---|---|
 Ledbetter speaking at an AFL-CIO event in Pittsburgh, October 9, 2008 |
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| Born | Lilly McDaniel April 1938 (age 74) |
| Residence | Jacksonville, Alabama |
| Occupation | Overnight supervisor at Goodyear |
| Known for | Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 |
| Spouse(s) | Deceased |
Lilly Ledbetter (born Lilly McDaniel; April 1938)[1] was the plaintiff in the American employment discrimination case Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. She has since become a women's equality activist.
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[edit] Women's equality
[edit] Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
In 1979, Ledbetter was hired by Goodyear; she retired from Goodyear in 1998 and then sued the company for paying her significantly less than her male counterparts.[2] The lawsuit eventually reached the Supreme Court, which denied her claim because she did not file suit 180 days from her first pay check even though she said she didn't know it at the time [3][4] .[5][4] In dissent, United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote:
Lilly Ledbetter was a supervisor at Goodyear Tire and Rubber’s plant in Gadsden, Alabama, from 1979 until her retirement in 1998. For most of those years, she worked as an area manager, a position largely occupied by men. Initially, Ledbetter’s salary was in line with the salaries of men performing substantially similar work. Over time, however, her pay slipped in comparison to the pay of male area managers with equal or less seniority. By the end of 1997, Ledbetter was the only woman working as an area manager and the pay discrepancy between Ledbetter and her 15 male counterparts was stark: Ledbetter was paid $3,727 per month; the lowest paid male area manager received $4,286 per month, the highest paid, $5,236.[4]
Subsequently, Congress passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to loosen the timeliness requirements for the filing of a discrimination suit so long as any act of discrimination, including receipt of a paycheck that reflects a past act of discrimination, occurs within the 180 day period of limitations.[2][6]
Speaking at an interview in 2012, Ledbetter said that the pay disparity further led to inequity in her "overtime pay, contributory retirement, 401(k), and social security."[7]
Ledbetter's testimony before Congress has been criticized because she represented that she did not learn of the pay disparity until shortly before the complaint, but her earlier sworn deposition testimony indicated that she discovered the pay disparity as early as 1992, six years before filing the complaint in 1998.[8] In a deposition held as a part of her lawsuit, Ledbetter testified that she "knew in 1992" she was "being paid less than [her] peers".[9] When asked how she knew about the discrepancy, she stated that "[d]ifferent people that I worked for along the way had always told me that my pay was extremely low." She continued, "Kim Whitman had told me that." Ledbetter testified that Mr. Whitman, who was her manager in 1992, told her "it was low in comparison to [her] peers".[10] However, in her testimony before the Senate, Ledbetter stated that she "only learned about the discrepancy in [her] pay after nineteen years [1998], and that was with someone leaving me an anonymous note".[11]
In February of 2012, Ledbetter released Grace and Grit, a memoir that details her struggle for equal pay.
[edit] Activism
On August 26, 2008 (Women's Equality Day) Lilly Ledbetter spoke at the Democratic National Convention, on the topic of pay equity.[12][13]
On September 4, 2012, she spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.[14]
[edit] TV Appearances
On October 31, 2012 Lilly Ledbetter appeared as a guest on the Colbert Report to promote her book, "Grace and Grit: My Fight for Equal Pay and Fairness at Goodyear and Beyond." [15]
[edit] References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lilly Ledbetter |
- ^ "Personal Biography of Lilly Ledbetter". http://womeninbusiness.about.com/od/successfulwomenprofiles/p/lilly-ledbetter.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-24.
- ^ a b Pickert, Kate (Jan. 29, 2009). "Lilly Ledbetter". TIME. http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1874954,00.html.
- ^ "Interview with Stephen Colbert". Oct. 31, 2012. http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/wed-october-31-2012-lilly-ledbetter/. Retrieved June 5, 2012.
- ^ a b c LEDBETTER v. GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER CO., No. 05-1074, decided May 2007.
- ^ Lindsay Peterson (Oct. 22, 2009). "Equal pay crusader says she'll always be 'second-class citizen'". Tampa Tribune. http://www2.tbo.com/business/breaking-news-business/2009/oct/22/equal-pay-crusader-says-shell-always-be-second-cla-ar-60881/. Retrieved June 5, 2012.
- ^ Brown, Heidi (2009-04-28). "Equal Payback For Lilly Ledbetter". Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/28/equal-pay-discrimination-forbes-woman-leadership-wages.html.
- ^ Lilly Ledbetter interview on The Rachel Maddow Show, March 5, 2012
- ^ Taylor, Stuart (2009-05-28). "The Right Should Stop Demagoguing -- And Obama Should Stop Distorting Facts". National Journal. http://ninthjustice.nationaljournal.com/2009/05/the-right-should.php.
- ^ LEDBETTER v. GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER CO., 127 S.Ct. 2162 (2007), Joint Appendix at 233.
- ^ Id.
- ^ Senate Judiciary Hearing on Solicitor General Kagan's Nomination to the Supreme Court, July 1, 2008 beginning at the 74 minute mark.
- ^ "Transcript of Lily Ledbetter @ the DNC". http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec08/ledbetter_08-26.html. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Ledbetter, Baldwin, Longoria to address Dem convention". http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/08/ledbetter-baldwin-longoria-to-address-dem-convention-132764.html. Retrieved 2012-08-29.
- ^ http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/wed-october-31-2012-lilly-ledbetter
[edit] External links
- Grace and Grit: My Fight for Equal Pay and Fairness at Goodyear and Beyond by Lilly Ledbetter and Lanier Scott Isom (Crown Archetype, 2012)
- A documentary on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009
English Wikisource has original text related to this article: Lilly Ledbetter on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009
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