House Passes 2 Measures on Job Bias

[groovedaddy]

WASHINGTON — The House voted on Friday to give women powerful new tools to challenge sex discrimination by employers who pay women less than men for the same or substantially similar work.

The action shows how Congress, working with President-elect Barack Obama, intends to make a swift, sharp break with civil rights policies of the Bush administration.

“In the first week of the new Congress, this is the legislation we are putting forward: pay equity, fairness to women in the workplace,” said Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California. “These are our priorities. This Congress has heard the message of change in the election.”

The House passed two related bills on Friday. One, approved 247 to 171, would give workers more time to file lawsuits claiming job discrimination.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/10/us/10rights.html?th&emc=th

[lonestarnot]

1. Great!

:applause:

[napi21]

2. That's a good step, BUT there's a big problem that I can't think

of a solution to. One of the main reasons these bills were proposed is because of the SCOTUS ruling that a woman filed her discrimination case too late. Well, it was filed TOO LATE because she didn't find out about it for YEARS! Since most employers keep wage rates private, and some even threated to fire anyone who discloses their pay rate, how is anyone going to find out they are being discriminated against?

[pinqy]

3. Not quite

"Well, it was filed TOO LATE because she didn't find out about it for YEARS!" The Goodyear policy was raises based on performance evaluations. No one really disputes that she was discriminated against in her early evaluations. But she didn't file at that time. When she did file, her claim was that because of the past discrimination, her current pay was itself discrimination. The Court rejected that argument because there was clearly no intent to discriminate in the current period, and even Ledbetter didn't claim any active discrimination. So the Court ruled that Congress set the time limits, and for good reason, and that she could have but did not comply with the time limits. She does say she knew at the time that discrimination occurred.

[napi21]

4. Sorry, I guess I misunderstood. I know I heard some of the

TV reporters say that she filed the suit as soon as she found out. That's really not completely relative though. I've worked for companies who actually told you "If you disclose your wage rate to another employee you will be fired!" Somehow I doubt the co. I worked for was the only one who has that practice...even if they don't come right out and say it. How is an employee to find out if they ARE being paid equally if nobody is allowed to talk?