The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Table of Contents

• Introduction

Executive Branch

• Looking Forward to New Blood in Washington
• Interview with Bob Edgar

On the Hill

• The Americans With Disabilities Act, Act Two
• As Home Foreclosures Climb, Efforts to Help Troubled Homeowners Continue
• The Year in Judicial and Executive Nominations
• Advocating for Federal Leadership on Education
• Facing New Challenges with the 2010 Census
• Modernizing the Federal Poverty Measure
• Piecemeal Legislation, Raids Take Place of Immigration Overhaul
• Below the Surface
• Interview with Kathryn Kolbert

In the Courts

• Wrapping up the Supreme Court’s 2007-2008 Term

In the States

• Colorado: Battleground for More Than Just the Presidency.
• Interview with Lilly Ledbetter

Leadership Conference Activities

• Preventing a Digital TV Divide
• Examining the State of Fair Housing in the 21st Century
• Bringing Diverse Communities Together
• 32nd Annual Hubert H. Humphrey Civil Rights Award Dinner
• Interview with John Payton

Interview with Pay Equity Advocate Lilly Ledbetter

On May 30, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court drastically limited the ability of workers to sue their employers for pay discrimination, in a case called Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company.

The decision redefined a longstanding legal understanding of workers' rights to combat pay discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. For years, in the context of pay discrimination, courts interpreted Title VII's prohibition of "unlawful employment practices" to include all paychecks workers receive that are tainted by a discriminatory pay decision.

But, in Ledbetter, the Supreme Court reversed precedent and decided that "unlawful employment practices" only occur when pay decisions are made and that workers who are discriminated against only have 180 days from the time pay decisions are made to file suit.

Lilly Ledbetter was the plaintiff in the case and has since become an advocate for pay equity.

Civil Rights Monitor: What was your immediate reaction when the Supreme Court ruled last year in your case, Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.? How did the ruling make you feel?

Lilly Ledbetter: I was, frankly, devastated by the ruling. The 11th Circuit [Court of Appeals] had previously ruled against me, but my lawyers had assured me that the law was really on my side and that the 11th Circuit had gotten it wrong. I had great hopes that the U.S. Supreme Court would correct the injustice that had been done to me. Its failure to do so was a terrible blow.

Civil Rights Monitor: Would you say there was a moment when you decided to be an advocate or did it just take on a life of its own?

Lilly Ledbetter: I never formally sat down and said "now I am an advocate." After the Supreme Court dismissed my case, the House Education & Labor Committee asked me to come to testify about the discrimination I had faced. That was just the beginning. Since then, I've had the privilege of appearing before other congressional committees and many gatherings of advocates, workers, and women and men who have faced – or want to fight – pay discrimination. What keeps me going is the knowledge that if we can get this bill [The Fair Pay Restoration Act] passed, no one will ever have to go through what I did again.

Civil Rights Monitor: Equal pay for equal work seems like a "no-brainer." Why do you think there has been such difficulty in passing legislation making it illegal to discriminate with salaries?

Lilly Ledbetter: Equal pay for equal work seems like a "no brainer" to me, too. And yet, we've never reached that goal – even though pay discrimination has been illegal for more than 45 years. Even today, women on average make only 78 cents for each dollar paid to men. I can't say why there's so much resistance to passing legislation that would give women the tools they need to challenge pay discrimination. I just know that I will do everything I can to overcome that resistance and make the bill that bears my name the law.

Civil Rights Monitor: Are you hopeful that a new administration will pass this legislation?

Lilly Ledbetter: Actually, I haven't given up hope that the current Senate will pass – and the current administration will sign – this bill. But if it doesn't happen, I know that the supporters of the bill won't give up until it becomes the law. And I hope that that will be quick, so that my daughter and my granddaughter can once again have the right to demand equal pay for equal work.