NOW Supports the Fair Pay Restoration Act

August 21, 2007

When the Supreme Court denied Lilly Ledbetter's claim for pay discrimination in May, Congress started the ball rolling on legislative fixes to this judicial misinterpretation. With support from NOW and many activists across the country, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2831, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would return us to the longstanding rule that treated each and every discriminatory paycheck as a new act discrimination, thus re-starting the 180-day clock for filing a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

For this legislation to go into effect, the Senate must pass S. 1843, the Fair Pay Restoration Act, which is the companion bill to H.R. 2831, and we must either get George W. Bush's signature or win enough Congressional support to override the veto. NOW has been working with allies in other women's rights organizations, as well as the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (note: NOW serves on their Executive Committee) to pass S. 1843, and we will be calling on activists to support that effort when Congress returns.

Read the letter (PDF).