Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the federal law that prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, and religion, an employee must file a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) before bringing a lawsuit. Generally, the employee must file a charge of discrimination within 180 days after the discriminatory act alleged (although the time limit is extended to 300 days if the act is also prohibited by state law).
Recently, in a pay discrimination case brought under Title VII, the Supreme Court considered when the discriminatory act that triggers an employee’s time limit for filing a charge occurs. In Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Inc., No. 05-1074 (May 29, 2007), the Supreme Court determined that the clock in a discriminatory pay case starts running when the employer makes a pay decision, not each time the employee receives a smaller paycheck because of that decision.
Lilly Ledbetter began working for Goodyear in 1979. In 1998, she filed a charge of discrimination with the EEOC, alleging that she was paid less than male employees throughout her employment. She claimed that several different supervisors had given her poor evaluations because of her gender and, as a result, she received smaller raises than male employees. Because of the ongoing pay differential created by these decisions, Ledbetter’s compensation was eventually significantly less than any of her male colleagues.
The jury found in Ledbetter’s favor on her pay discrimination claim, but the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision -- and the U.S. Supreme Court also ruled against Ledbetter. The Court found that Ledbetter should have filed her EEOC charge within 180 days after each decision about her pay was made and communicated to her. The Court pointed out that it would be difficult for Goodyear to defend itself against alleged discrimination that occurred many years ago; in fact, one of the supervisors whom Ledbetter accused of discrimination had passed away by the time of her lawsuit. Ledbetter had argued that Goodyear discriminated against her each time she was paid, but the Court disagreed.
The Ledbetter decision was a close one: Five Justices ruled against Ledbetter, while the remaining four would have upheld her victory. Writing for the dissenters, Justice Ginsberg pointed out that it’s often difficult for employees to find out about differences in pay, and that the harm caused by pay discrimination builds up over time as each paycheck is issued. Requiring employees to file a charge immediately would unfairly deprive them of a remedy for ongoing discrimination, the dissenters argued.
Ultimately, it may be up to Congress to decide which argument is correct. Justice Ginsberg invited Congress to “act to correct this Court’s parsimonious reading of Title VII,” as it did when it passed the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which overturned a number of Supreme Court cases that limited workers’ rights. And a handful of senators and representatives have said that they will introduce legislation overturning the Ledbetter decision. For the time being, however, the Court’s ruling stands as the law of the land, at least for Title VII cases. (The Equal Pay Act (EPA) also prohibits gender-based pay discrimination, and the Court indicated that different standards -- which may have allowed Ledbetter’s victory to stand -- apply to these cases.)
Effective date:
May 29, 2007
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