We knew that HR law would change with a Democratic Congress and administration. Well, the changes have begun. President Obama has signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law. The law overrules the 2007 Supreme Court decision of Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Inc., making it easier for employees to bring discrimination cases by allowing them more time to do so. The Act effectively increases the statute of limitations (or deadline) for filing federal pay discrimination claims, including those under Title VII, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act. The Supreme Court had said that an employee must file a discrimination claim within 300/180 days of the company’s initial act of pay discrimination. Supporters of the Ledbetter law have argued that employees may not even be aware that pay discrimination has occurred until years later and so would be essentially foreclosed from taking legal action.
