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The U.S. Supreme Court in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Inc. (May 29, 2007), has decided an important statute of limitations issue in favor of the employer. The case involved an employee who filed a Title VII claim in a wage dispute alleging gender discrimination. Essentially, the Court held that an individual must file a charge of discrimination within the 180-day statute of limitations period (in Wisconsin, it is 300 days) and, further, the individual cannot rely upon prior events or circumstances (evidence outside of the statute of limitations) to establish the employee's case.
The employee, Lilly Ledbetter, a 59-year old supervisor employed by the Goodyear plant in Alabama for 19 years, just prior to retiring learned that her annual salary was substantially less than the salaries of each of her 15 male counterparts. Even recent hires with far less experience were earning almost $7,000 per year more than her. She filed a charge with the EEOC, alleging that Goodyear paid her a discriminatorily low salary because of her sex. She argued that Title VII is violated each time an employee receives a paycheck that reflects past discrimination, and sought to introduce evidence of discrimination that preceded the statute of limitations, evidence that went back more than a decade. The Supreme Court said, "no," holding that each paycheck is a "discrete act" for which the statute of limitations begins to run when the employee receives her paycheck, and that the statute of limitations cannot be extended or disregarded in claims of disparate pay. For example, if Ledbetter thought she was being discriminated against, she should have filed an EEOC charge within 180 days after each allegedly discriminatory pay decision based on her performance evaluation was made and communicated to her. She did not do that; therefore, her paychecks do not continue to extend the statute of limitations period during which she can file a claim for any prior discriminatory pay decision. Later effects of discrimination (paychecks) do not restart the clock for filing a claim.
Ledbetter had also originally filed an Equal Pay Act (EPA) claim, which she later abandoned. Unlike Title VII claims, EPA claims do not have a short statute of limitations period. The Court recognized that had she pursued her EPA claim, she would not have faced the Title VII timing issues of this case.
House Democrats are promising to soon propose legislation specifying that discrimination occurs whenever an employee is issued a paycheck that discriminates on the basis of sex, religion, age, disability, or race, pushing to legislate a change as they did in 1991. Time will tell.
For more information about Title VII claims and other employment law issues, contact educational services at (414)988-8400.
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