Lilly Ledbetter

Thèmes abordés

Lilly Ledbetter - Alabama - Equal Employment Opportunity Commission - Birmingham Tribunal -

Résumé du document

Lilly Ledbetter is a famous American woman who lives in Alabama and who has been victim of discrimination. Her case is now very famous. Everything started in 1979 when Lilly Ledbetter was hired at the Alabama Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company as an overnight supervisor. At work she was victim of sexual harassment, indeed one of her employer blackmailed her for sex by saying that if she accepted, he would award her a better work. Lilly Ledbetter obtained the reassignment of this supervisor thanks to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that is to say that this supervisor was obliged to go to work somewhere else. After that, although Lilly Ledbetter continued suffering from day to day discrimination, her situation was better. As a matter of fact, Lilly Ledbetter got a pay rise and she even received a Top Performance Award in 1996.

Actually, the issue began in 1998 just before Lilly's retirement age. Indeed, it is at this moment that Lilly discovered that she had been victim of gender discrimination when an anonymous coworker gave her the comparison between her salary and the salary of the men who had the same job as her. Globally, her income was 40% lower than the income of her male colleagues. That's why she sued her company in front of the Birmingham Tribunal on the basis of a law against discrimination voted in 1963 and on the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Extraits

[...] Lilly Ledbetter 1. The Ledbetter case Lilly Ledbetter is a famous American woman who lives in Alabama and who has been victim of discrimination. Her case is now very famous. Everything started in 1979 when Lilly Ledbetter was hired at the Alabama Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company as an overnight supervisor. At work she was victim of sexual harassment, indeed one of her employer blackmailed her for sex by saying that if she accepted, he would award her a better work. [...]

[...] However, since the case of Lilly Ledbetter, the legislation has been modified. Indeed, in 2007, the American congress, under Georges W Bush presidency, tried to change the law in order to reverse the decision of the Supreme Court. However, the White House disapproved of this reform so nothing was changed. But Lilly Ledbetter's case retained the attention of Barack Obama and his wife and finally on the 29th January 2009 under the presidency of Barack Obama, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was signed. [...]

[...] Ledbetter will not see any money as a result of the legislation Mr. Obama signed into law. But what she has gotten, aside from celebrity, is personal satisfaction, as she said in the State Dining Room after the signing ceremony.”(New York Times). However, this affair is not finished yet because if it is true that The Lilly Ledbetter Act became law, the Paycheck Fairness Act, which is essential for the Lilly Ledbetter Act to be implemented, still remains in the Senate. [...]

[...] Actually, the issue began in 1998 just before Lilly's retirement age. Indeed, it is at this moment that Lilly discovered that she had been victim of gender discrimination when an anonymous coworker gave her the comparison between her salary and the salary of the men who had the same job as her. Globally, her income was 40% lower than the income of her male colleagues. That's why she sued her company in front of the Birmingham Tribunal on the basis of a law against discrimination voted in 1963 and on the Civil Rights Act of 1964. [...]