United States Congress 4W

Please take a few minutes and review details about the writing assignment on the topic of federal legislation, which you will find in the Module 6 Assignment – Legislative History and Impact. You will submit a report on the history and impact of a federal law enacted between 1995 and 2015. Your report is due at the end of the first week of Module 6. A complete description of this assignment can be reviewed in Module 6.

The first step in developing your report is to identify a federal law for the topic of your paper. Select a law that addresses a public issue, rather than a law that addresses the organization of Congress, for example. Submit the official title of your law, the date of enactment, and a brief statement of the purpose of the law for review by the instructor by 11/7.

I will confirm the law you propose for your paper topic or address any concerns about students’ choice of topics in a private message.

ANSWER

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009

One of the major public issues in United States is unfair payment and discriminatory practices in pay decisions. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 is a United States labor law which outlawed employment discrimination on the based on religion, color, origin and gender. The act extends the time required for filing discriminatory pay lawsuit where the discriminatory pay practices are continuing.

The law is titled after Lilly M. Ledbetter of Jacksonville, Alabama, who was a supervisor at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company’s Gadsden, Alabama plant for nearly 20 years (Wade & Fiorentino, 2017). In her lawsuit, Ledbetter alleged that she had been paid less than her male counterparts for performing the same job. The Supreme Court ruled against Ledbetter in 2007, holding that she should have filed her claim within 180 days of her first unequal paycheck, even though she was unaware of the discrimination at the time it occurred.

Prior to the Ledbetter Act, an employee who believed she was receiving unequal pay had 180 days from the date of her first paycheck to file a claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The Ledbetter Act changed that rule, and provides that each discriminatory paycheck resets the clock, giving employees up to three years to sue. According to this public law, unlawful employment practices occur after a discriminatory compensation decision, a person is subject to practice or decision or a person is impacted by application of practice or decision including benefits, time wages and other forms of compensation.

The Act is an important step forward in ensuring fairness and equality in the workplace (Wade & Fiorentino, 2017). The law is an important law that helps to ensure fairness and equality in the organizations. The Act gives employees who are subject to wage discrimination the ability to file a claim within 180 days of their most recent paycheck. This is an important step forward in ensuring that all workers are treated fairly and equally.

References

Wade, M., & Fiorentino, S. (2017). Gender pay inequality: An examination of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act six years later. Advancing Women in Leadership Journal, 37, 29-36.