Obama Puts His Name to Goodyear-Ledbetter Law

During his ninth day in office, new US President Barack Obama placed his signature on the first bill to become law under his administration. And with this stroke of his pen a legal fight that traces its origins back to a Goodyear plant’s shop floor has finally been settled. Some 18 months after the US Supreme Court declared Lily Ledbetter’s fight against her employer unlawful due to the delay between the alleged grievance and complaint, Obama has overturned the ruling in a move many are viewing as a landmark decision for American women.

“This is a wonderful day,” said Obama before adding his signature to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. “It is fitting that with the very first bill that I sign … it is upholding one of this nation’s first principles – that we are all created equal and each deserve a chance to pursue our own version of happiness.”

The new law cancels out a Supreme Court ruling that employees are only entitled to report cases of pay discrimination within 180 days of the first such instance occurring. Ms Ledbetter, who only discovered after retirement that her remuneration during much of her 19 years with Goodyear was markedly less than that of male counterparts doing the same job, was on this basis ruled ineligible to claim compensation from the tyre maker. Under the new law, the starting date for the complaint time window instead begins with the employee’s last paycheque.

Despite the prompt attention the new President gave the bill, Lilly Ledbetter will not financially benefit from the law’s enactment. “Goodyear will never have to pay me what it cheated me out of, in fact I will never see a cent from my case,” she commented at the signing ceremony. Ledbetter, however, sees benefits that reach much further: “But with the president’s signature here today I have an even richer reward, I know that my daughters, granddaughters and your daughters and your granddaughters will have a better deal.

“That’s what makes this fight worth fighting, that’s what made this fight one we had to win, and now with this win we will make a big difference in the real world,” she added.

The new man in the Oval Office also praised Ms Ledbetter for her persistence. “Lilly stayed the course, she knew it was too late for her – that this bill wouldn’t undo the years of injustice she faced or restore the earnings she was denied,” he said. “But this grandmother from Alabama kept on fighting, because she was thinking about the next generation.”

Goodyear has yet to officially comment on the new law’s enactment.