Pay Equality for All.

Pay equality for all.

Lawrence Smith

DeVry University

Professor Foremen

Composition 112

Introduction

After working for Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company Lilly Ledbetter retired with the knowledge that she was making far less than her male counterparts. It was at this time she decided to sue her former employer for pay discrimination, stating that she was making $6,500 less per year than her male colleagues. This was the start of a vigorous journey through the courts and congress that ended with the law that now bears her name. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 is a long time coming law against pay discrimination. Even though the Fair Pay Act will cause more litigation which is something America already has enough of. A need for appropriate pay for all hard working Americans is undeniable. I intend to prove that because of the pay scale difference for women and by taking a fair and balanced approach to pay equality will allow all Americans to be properly compensated.

A Brief History

Although Goodyear claims to have documentation stating that Ms. Ledbetter’s work was not up to the quality of her male counter parts she claims that the reason her pay was so low is because she refused the sexual advances from her former supervisor. She claimed the reason he states her work quality was off is because she refused to date him. The problem here is the former supervisor had passed away and there was no way to back up her claim. Then again if she was such a bad employee how did she eventually become a supervisor herself?

It’s near impossible to keep someone’s pay hidden from other employees. More than once a coworker has walked past and, seen a pay stub sitting around either on a desk or left on a locker room bench by mistake. Human curiosity warrants a look to see what the coworker is making and if that coworker’s pay seems higher than others there may be a case of pay discrimination. In the case of Ms. Ledbetter she found out about the...