Goodyear Release Statement Regarding Ledbetter Lawsuit

In light of the widespread media attention the pay discrimination case involving former Goodyear employee Lily Ledbetter has received, the US tyremaker has been prompted to release a statement outlining the company’s position on the matter. The statement reads as follows:

First and foremost, let us assure you that Goodyear has a long-standing policy prohibiting discrimination in employment and pay.

Goodyear encourages associates to report concerns as soon as possible, so they can be fairly reviewed and remedied. It’s easiest and simplest to correct a problem early, before it grows into a bigger problem years later. We encourage you to access our compliance policies.

Second, there are just a few facts from the case we’d like to highlight. Goodyear presented evidence at trial supporting Ms. Ledbetter’s pay level. During her employment, she had two extended layoffs and was not eligible for pay increases those years. In other years, Goodyear showed that Ms. Ledbetter and lower-rated male supervisors received comparable increases. Like most companies, pay increases at Goodyear are based on performance. In fact, there was a judicial finding of no discrimination with respect to the merit increases Ms. Ledbetter received in the years just before she took an early retirement.

Lastly, Ms. Ledbetter testified she first thought her pay was out of line in the early 1990s. Instead of reporting her concern then, she waited until 1998, after she retired, and pursued a lawsuit. She was permitted to testify about some alleged sexist remarks a male manager made to her in the 1980s. The manager had passed away by the late 1990s. So at the trial in 2003, the jury heard only her side of their interactions from almost 20 years earlier.

We’ll let you reach your own conclusions about whether this was fair to Goodyear.

Thank you for allowing us to present some of the additional facts from the trial. We hope this information helps you better understand this case. (Statement ends)

In mid-June US Congressman George Miller, a Democrat from California, introduced the “Ledbetter Fair Time For Fair Pay Act of 2007” into the US House of Representatives, a piece of legislation intended to overturn the 5-4 ruling against Ms Ledbetter and enable plaintiffs to continue pursuing legal action over pay disputes after the currently permitted timeframe has passed.