It’s been the core of stand-up routines and news analyses for years. Now, today, the “gender gap” in employee pay is due to come before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The case involves a Goodyear employee named Lily Ledbetter, who claims that after 19 years with the company, she was making $6,000 a year less than the lowest-paid man in the same job, She sued, claiming pay discrimination.
Cut-and-dried? Not a chance. Not at this level.
Goodyear is claiming that any chance Ledbetter had to claim discrimination has long since passed. Under Title VII, employees have a 180-day deadline to complain about discriminatory pay decisions. It’s use it or lose it, Goodyear said, and Ledbetter lost it.
The lower courts have been split, naturally. A federal court sided with Ledbetter, ultimately awarding her $360,000. But Goodyear won on appeal, saying that Ledbetter was complaining about decisions made a long time ago .
So as usual, the court is in a difficult spot. Does discrimination stop being discrimination just because of the calendar? Or should a company be held liable for decisions it may no longer be able to remember?
Either way, Lily Ledbetter is about to make history. Whether she’s about to make anything more than that, only the Court can say.
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