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Lilly Ledbetter: From Loyal Employee To Labor Activist
The first piece of real legislation Barack Obama signed as the 44th President of the United States, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, is named for a woman who was paid less than her male co-workers at a Goodyear tire factory in Alabama.
Ledbetter’s intention was not to be an activist; hers was a personal quest at the start, but after the Supreme Court ruled against her, she decided it was time to become a labor activist for the sake of her daughters and the daughters of working people everywhere.
As you read this woman’s story keep in mind she was employed by
Goodyear an international company named by Fortune magazine as the World’s Most Admired Motor Vehicle Parts Company in its 2008 list of the World’s Most Admired Companies. The publication also ranked Goodyear No. 1 in innovation, people management, use of assets and global orientation. The company is also listed on Forbes magazine’s list of the Most Respected Companies in America and its list of the Most Trustworthy Companies in America. CRO magazine–the publication for executives charged with Corporate Responsibility, ranks Goodyear as number 72 of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens. Goodyear employs about 70,000 people and manufactures its products in more than 60 facilities in 25 countries around the world.
Ledbetter, a 70 year-old widow whose husband died last December, was hired in 1979 to work as an overnight supervisor from 7PM to 7AM at the Goodyear plant. She worked for nearly twenty years and says with reference to her work ethic,”There was nothing I wouldn’t do, no matter how dirty or hard.”
During her career at Goodyear, Ledbetter experienced sexual harassment and day-to-day discrimination. In her testimony before Congress in 2007Ledbetter told how a supervisor once asked for sexual favors in return for good job performance evaluations. After Ledbetter complained about the supervisor to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), he was reassigned, but Ledbetter said she felt isolated at work and experienced a long-term pattern of discrimination.
Ledbetter received periodic pay increases. She even received an award for Top Performance in 1996. But just as she was about to take early retirement in 1998 an anonymous co-worker slipped a note into Ledbetter’s mailbox at work comparing her pay to the pay of three other male counterparts. Ledbetter filed a complaint with the EEOC and was then assigned to lift heavy tires, which she felt was retribution. (Ledbetter was making $3,727 per month, while men doing the same job were paid $4,286 to $5,236 per month.)
She sued Goodyear, which claimed it paid Ledbetter less than other male workers because she was not a good worker. A jury awarded Ledbetter about $3.3 million, but the amount was later reduced to around $300,000. Subsequently, the Supreme Court, in May 2007 voted 5-4 that Ledbetter was not entitled to compensation because she filed her claim more than 180 days, six months, after receiving her first discriminatory paycheck.
“A worker knows immediately if she is denied a promotion or transfer, if she is fired or refused employment. And promotions, transfers, hirings, and firings are generally public events, known to co-workers. When an employer makes a decision of such open and definitive character, an employee can immediately seek out an explanation and evaluate it for pretext. Compensation disparities, in contrast, are often hidden from sight.”
— Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, dissenting with the majority opinion that found Ledbetter’s case was invalid, May 29, 2007
Ledbetter says she lives paycheck to paycheck and has no expectation of ever getting any restitution from Goodyear Tire.
Lilly Ledbetter met President Obama when he was a senator and campaigned on his behalf. Obama and the future First Lady talked about Ledbetter regularly on the campaign stump and the Alabama native rode with Obama as he took a celebratory train trip to Washington, D.C. before the inauguration. Ledbetter attended the inauguration and danced with the President at a ball afterward.
With reference to the fact her retirement benefits are based on the discriminatory pay she received from Goodyear Tire, Ledbetter says, “I will be a second-class citizen for the rest of my life … It affects every penny I have today.”
The new bill, named for Ledbetter, changes the Civil Rights Act so workers can sue up to 180 days, six months, after receiving any discriminatory paycheck.
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