NOW President Kim Gandy said, “It goes without saying that the combination of war, economic collapse, piracy and a potential pandemic may have removed many important items from the top of the president’s legislative agenda, including the Freedom of Choice Act. But I urge President Obama to maintain his public support for this critical legislation, which he enthusiastically endorsed during the campaign.”
Tonight the Senate passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act by a bipartisan vote of 61 to 36, vindicating Lilly Ledbetter’s long search for redress after 19 years of pay discrimination.
“This is an important first step in our efforts to undo years of backsliding on the right to be paid a fair and equitable wage,” said National Organization for Women President Kim Gandy. “The Ledbetter bill will allow redress for workers with the energy and willpower to seek redress in the courts, but we have a long way to go before we have fair pay for women, and laws with real teeth.”
“It’s a one-two punch for women, that could knock out many pay inequities,” said NOW President Kim Gandy as the U.S. House of Representatives passed two bills today that would advance fair pay for women.
The Bush administration issued the final version of a new HHS “conscience” rule — just in time to take effect on Jan 18, two days before the inauguration. This harmful regulation would require any health care entity receiving federal funds to certify in writing that none of its employees are required to assist in any way with any medical services they find objectionable.
How long do working women have to wait? And how many will be short-changed before Congress restores their ability to seek redress for pay discrimination?
It has been one year since the U.S. Supreme Court upended years of court precedent and effectively gutted a civil rights statute that gave victims of paycheck discrimination the right to sue their employers. In the decision, a 5-4 majority of the Court said that Lilly Ledbetter should have made her claim within 180 days of the company’s first offense — her first discriminatory paycheck — nearly 20 years earlier.
Tell the Senate to vote No on the SAVE America Act.