Lilly Ledbetter: A Tour of the Three Branches

Lilly Ledbetter worked in a man’s world. When she discovered that her paychecks were substantially lower than those of her male co-workers performing the same work, she filed a charge of pay discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The US Supreme Court held that Ledbetter’s charge was filed too late, barring her claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The decision galvanized members of Congress to reverse it, producing legislation that was later promised passage by Democrats in a historic presidential election year, and which ultimately became law. It also made a pay equity advocate out of Lilly Ledbetter. This article tells Lilly’s story, a story about how public participation and dissenting opinions can lead to change in the law. After the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 (LLFPA) was passed early in the 111th Congress, the EEOC experienced an all-time high in charge-filing activity in FY 2010, in part attributable to the LLFPA. This surge in activity brings to the forefront concerns raised by Republican lawmakers in the 110th Congress who debated over earlier versions of the LLFPA, concerns that the Act was too broad and possibly created new claims. Proponents of earlier versions of the LLFPA maintained that this tweak of Title VII was needed to restore pre-Ledbetter law in the majority of federal appellate courts, and to close the pay gap. Recently documented in a March 2011 federal statistical report on the status of women, the pay gap persists and continues to be the target of equal pay measures like the LLFPA that bolster existing pay discrimination laws. Lilly Ledbetter personally advocated for passage of equal pay measures and is a model of public participation for anyone seeking government information to engage the legislative process. Her story, as told here, is a map to the many sources that are freely available online and is therefore useful for teaching and training in legislative histories and government documents research.