Supreme Court Limits Pay Discrimination Suits

05/29/2007

By Robert Barnes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 29, 2007


A divided Supreme Court today ruled that workers may not sue their employers for unequal pay because of discrimination that may have occurred years earlier.

The court ruled 5-4 that Lilly Ledbetter, a supervisor at a tire plant in Gadsden, Ala., did not file her lawsuit against Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. in the timely manner specified by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

A jury had originally awarded her more than $3.5 million because it found it "more likely than not" that sex discrimination during her 19-year career led to her being paid substantially less than her male counterparts.

An appeals court reversed, saying the law requires the suit be filed within 180 days "after the alleged unlawful employment practice occurred," and Ledbetter couldn't prove discrimination within that time period. She had argued that she was discriminated against throughout her career and each paycheck that was less because of discrimination was a new violation.

The conservative majority of the court disagreed, and upheld the appeals court.

"Current effects alone can't breathe life into prior, uncharged discrimination," Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote for the majority. He was joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, a former head of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

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