LawyersUSA

Legislation aimed at restarting the statute of limitations for equal pay claims with the issuance of each paycheck – which Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg called for from the bench last year in her dissent in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber – was blocked by Senate Republicans this week.

The bill was thwarted by a Republican-led filibuster despite a recent push by several Democratic lawmakers including Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee Chairman Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., to get the bill approved in the Senate. A vote to end the filibuster fell 4 votes short of the needed 60.

GOP lawmakers complained that the "Ledbetter Fair Pay Act" would have led to a flood of litigation.

Kennedy had urged his colleagues to pass the measure, which passed the House earlier this term.

"Let us restore the fairness, the equity, the decency and the humanity that this Senate … has gone on record for with regard to equal pay for women, the disabled, the elderly in our society," he said on the Senate floor.

Some Republican lawmakers were angry that the vote was delayed in order to allow presidential candidates, Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, to return to Washington from the campaign trail.

"To have the schedule of the Senate revolve around the schedule of the presidential candidates strikes me as particularly ridiculous," said Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky at a news conference before the vote.

Kennedy also held a news conference that day, which was attended by Lilly Ledbetter, the woman whose case led to the Supreme Court decision that issuing paychecks did not restart the statute of limitations clock. The Supreme Court voted 5-4 last May to throw out her complaint, saying that she had waited too long to sue. (Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., Inc. (127 S.Ct. 2162).)

For a detailed story about the decision, see "Limit on disparate pay claims roils employment bar," Lawyers USA, June 18, 2007. Search terms for Lawyers USA Archives: Hastings and Vann.

Ledbetter later watched from the galley as lawmakers debated the bill.

The bill has faced steady opposition from Republicans, and the White House had indicated a veto would be awaiting it should it pass.

"The bill far exceeds the stated purpose of undoing the court's decision," and could effectively waive the statute of limitations in such cases and burden courts with claims, the administration said in a statement.