Thursday, January 29, 2009

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act


This morning President Obama signed the first bill of his administration. Lilly Ledbetter worked at her job for twenty years and then found out that the men with whom she worked in the same position had earned more money than she had earned during those years. Her financial losses were more than $200,000.00 dollars not including pension and retirement funds. Ms. Ledbetter took her law suit to the Supreme Court who decided against her. Determined to seek equal pay for others in spite of losing her own rights, Ms. Ledbetter sought to have the equal pay provision signed into law. This morning President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law.

Congratulations are due to Ms. Ledbetter on this happy occasion. It is difficult to believe in this twenty-first century that there are those who continue to believe that hard working women should be paid less than a man doing the same job. Women are dedicated employees who earn their money exactly the same as a man. It is shocking that we must have this conversation that should have been put behind us long ago.

It is understandable that businesses may feel that this opens them up to law suits and losses, but they can avoid such losses by operating within the law and treating everyone equally in the matter of pay.

As a Christian I congratulate President Obama and my prayers are with him as he charts his course during the difficult days ahead.

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