Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009

Long title	An Act to amend title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, and to modify the operation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, to clarify that a discriminatory compensation decision or other practice that is unlawful under such Acts occurs each time compensation is paid pursuant to the discriminatory compensation decision or other practice, and for other purposes.
Enacted by	the 111th United States Congress
Effective	January 29, 2009
Citations
Public law	111-2
Statutes at Large	123 Stat. 5
Codification
Acts amended	Civil Rights Act of 1964 Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
Titles amended	29, 42
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as S. 181 by Barbara Mikulski (D–MD) on January 8, 2009 Passed the Senate on January 22, 2009 (61-36) Passed the House of Representatives on January 27, 2009 (250-177) Signed into law by President Barack Obama on January 29, 2009

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 (Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 111–2 (text) (PDF), S. 181) is a landmark federal statute in the United States that was the first bill signed into law by U.S. President Barack Obama on January 29, 2009. The act amends Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and states that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination resets with each new paycheck affected by that discriminatory action. The law directly addressed Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (2007), a U.S. Supreme Court decision that the statute of limitations for presenting an equal-pay lawsuit begins on the date that the employer makes the initial discriminatory wage decision, not at the date of the most recent paycheck.

An earlier bill seeking to supersede the Ledbetter decision, also called the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, was first introduced in the 110th United States Congress, but was not successfully enacted at that time, as it was passed by the House but failed in the Senate.

During the campaign for the 2008 elections, the Democrats criticized Republicans for defeating the 2007 version of the bill, citing Republican presidential candidate John McCain's opposition to the bill and candidate Barack Obama's support.^[1]