How Does the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act Affects the Employer Compensation
Table of Contents
Ledbetter v. Goodyear 5-6
The Human Capital Theory
The Discrimination Theory
Successful businesses are based on guiding principles that support a clear mission and value based on ethics and integrity. The epitome of a successful business will also obtain a major component if designed and implemented effectively, will determine its success. That component is compensation. Compensation is one of the most powerful tools organizations have to influence its employees. If managed well, it can play a major role in the success or failure of any organization. Guiding principles and rules that make organizations and businesses successful were not practiced overnight. During the pioneering stages of our country, dates as early as the 1800’s consisted of an era filled with inequality, labor abuse and women’s suffrage . Known as the Reform Era, consisted of an unstructured nation that was filled with corruption and monopolization (Svoboda. 2010). Before this era women had no rights. Many women - women of color, immigrant and poor women were able to take a step away from the traditional homemaker role into the workforce. Based on this American stereotype, the world of compensation consisted primarily of men, up until WWII when unprecedented numbers of women had to enter the workforce as their husbands went off to war. Most of these women were overworked and underpaid; if not laboring with no compensation measures at all. As an aftermath, women petitioned to create public awareness which raised money and equality. With key players to this movement such as, Susan B. Anthony, women were able to protest and exercise their right to vote in 1920 (Library Of Congress. 2012). Recognizing that women largely replaced male workers in the war labor industry, the National War Labor Board in 1942 encouraged industry leaders to make adjustments which would equalize compensation measures to women with equal rates as males for comparable quality and quantity of work on similar operations. At this point women started to flood the workplace entraining the world of compensation where pay discrimination based on sex grew rampant and blatant. According to the National Organization for Women (2013). Women made 59% of what men earned in 1963. In the early 1960’s job advertisements were listed by sex with the most high salary positions allocated to men. Even if the same position were advertised to both genders, a two tiered scale ensure male candidates would be paid more than their female counterparts. After numerous of attempts to propose the first bill to amend the National Labor Relations Act to end gender wage discrimination in 1944, it was expired then referred to the Committee on Labor. In 1950, Rep. Katharine St. George (R-NY.2013), renowned for coining the phrase “equal pay for equal work,” negotiated a compromise bill that would also permit the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. This bill also failed. Ever persistent, St. George proposed a work bill in 1959 that called for equal pay for comparable work. It stalled for considerable time because of debates over the definition of “comparable.” According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, The bill’s language finally held up and became part of the EPA on June 10, 1963 signed by President John F. Kennedy as part of Kennedy’s New Frontier Program taking affect in 1964 .
Ledbetter v. Goodyear The Ledbetter vs. Goodyear was a case that questioned the extent of timeliness an employee has to file a discrimination claim with the EEOC. Based on the validity of discrete instances of discrimination and the lingering effects of discrimination under…