2009: Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

What did the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act actually do?

• On January 29, 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. The Act requires employers to redouble their efforts to ensure that their pay practices are non-discriminatory and to make certain that they keep the records needed to prove the fairness of pay decisions. To break it down further

• (1) a discriminatory compensation decision or other practice is adopted; (

• 2) an individual becomes subject to the decision or practice;

• (3) an individual is affected by application of the decision or practice, including each time wages, benefits, or other compensation is paid.

This Act was an important step toward the fight to close the gender and racial wage gaps that unfairly held women, especially women of color, back in the workplace, and fulfilled the role that equal pay plays in supporting both working families and our broader economy.

Working families are in a better place because Equal Fair Pay for both people in the home means better opportunities and less stressful financial situations.