Obama signs Lilly Ledbetter Act into law

Yesterday, President Obama signed his first piece of legislation into law. It was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

Lilly Ledbetter stood by his side at the signing. It was a beautiful and moving thing to behold.

I think it's very fitting that this was the first bill that he signed into law. After all, as he proclaimed at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, "[N]ow is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for an equal day's work, because I want my daughters to have the exact same opportunities as your sons."

For any new readers who are not familiar with the Lilly Ledbetter case and the resultant legislation, here is a summary:

Lilly Ledbetter had worked at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company for 19 years when she discovered she was being paid significantly less than her male counterparts. So she sued. A jury agreed that she had been paid unfairly, and awarded her $223,776 in back pay, and over $3 million in punitive damages.

But then a judge cut that to only $300,000 because of a 1991 law that says that you must take action within 180 days of when the pay discrimination first started, or else you're out of luck. If you don't find out about it until it's been going on for several years -- as was the case with Lilly Ledbetter -- too bad! Either you're a mind reader, or you're potentially screwed.

Fortunately, that ridiculous loophole has now been closed with the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which recinds that impractical statute of limitations.

Under this new law, the lower paycheck doesn't have to be recognized within any initial statute of limitations. Each discriminatory paycheck is itself an actionable violation of this law.

Now, as long as your employer keeps handing you unfair paychecks, you have the right to sue.

As well you should.