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Monday, January 05, 2009
Courts - "Justices’ Ruling in Discrimination Case May Draw Quick Action by Obama"
The ILB has had a number of entries on the Supreme Court's decision in 2007 in the case of Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
In this story yesterday in the NY Times, Robert Pear reported:
President-elect Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress are planning swift action to overturn a Supreme Court decision that made it much harder for people to challenge discrimination in employment, education, housing and other fields.The decision, involving a woman named Lilly M. Ledbetter, who had accused her employer of sex-based pay discrimination, was issued in May 2007. Since then, courts around the country have gone far beyond the facts of that case and cited it as a reason for rejecting lawsuits claiming discrimination based on race, sex, age and disability.
In some cases, after initially ruling for employees, judges have reversed themselves and ruled in favor of employers. The judges said they had to switch because of the Supreme Court decision. * * *
At issue in the Ledbetter case was the deadline for filing charges under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Supreme Court did not deny that Ms. Ledbetter had suffered discrimination, but said she should have filed her claim within 180 days of “the alleged unlawful employment practice” — the initial decision to pay her less than men performing similar work.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 5, 2009 12:55 PM
Posted to Courts in general