New Due Diligence Under Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

March 30th, 2009 Posted by Amelia

Companies will have to add yet another step in their when buying or merging with a new company, because of the Ledbetter . That law permits employees to sue for wage discrimination, even many years after the fact.

 

Twenty years after going to work for Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, a woman by the name of Lilly Ledbetter learned through an that she was making less money for doing the same job as her male coworkers.

 

calculated that she had lost $200,000 in pay compared to the men, not to mention the lost Social Security benefits and pension funds. Ledbetter sued over the issue, but was blocked by rulings that she had not met the 180-day deadline for filing her petition. She took the matter to the Supreme Court, which upheld lower court rulings in a split decision.

 

Now, as a way of rectifying situations like hers, the U.S. Senate has passed, and President Obama  has signed into law, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. The new Act allows for beyond the old 180-day deadline. The Senate vote was 61 in favor and 36 against.

 

This means that employers must retain records on the basis of compensation decisions far longer, to defend against a possible lawsuit.

 

When a company is bought out by another, the new owners also purchase any liability for discrimination or other unfair labor practices. need to assess the risk of the company’s employee and compensation system, before making a final purchase decision. 

 

The President, in signing it one week later, said Ledbetter had not planned to become a household name when she took on Goodyear. “She was just a good hard worker who did her job – and she did it well – for nearly two decades before discovering that for years, she was paid less than her for doing the very same work,” President Obama said.

 

He added that he intended (more…)

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New Federal Contractor Deadline

February 27th, 2009 Posted by Amelia

A combination of efforts by President Obama’s administration and the Society for Human Resource Management (), backed by the courts, has extended the for implementation of new regulations for .

 

The original deadline was January 1, 2009. That has been delayed until May 21, 2009. As a result, federal contracts will have several additional weeks in which to comply with E-Verify.

 

Starting on May 21, any companies that enter into contracts with the federal government will be mandated to use E-Verify in order to double-check the immigration and legal work status of new employers.

 

A confluence of events led to the delay. For one, ’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emmanuel, had sent memos to all federal agencies urging them to delay the effective dates of regulations pushed through during the final days of the (more…)

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New Union Notice Required under Executive Order 13496

February 10th, 2009 Posted by Amelia

An new executive order requires federal contractors to post notices informing employees of their right to form unions and collectively bargain. This requirement must be included in every along with language giving the government the right to terminate/suspend the contract or even debar the contractor for noncompliance.       

 

Under Executive Order 13496, every is required to a notice informing employees of their rights to form unions and collectively bargain. This executive order overturns an order signed by George W. Bush early during his administration.

 

Under the Executive Order signed by President Barack Obama on Friday, January 30, 2009, this requirement must be included in every federal contract along with language giving the government the right to terminate or suspend the contract if the employer does not comply.

 

In fact, employers who fail to post the required notice can be debarred for noncompliance.

 

The Executive Order signed by President Obama focuses specifically on (more…)

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Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009

February 5th, 2009 Posted by Cara

On January 29, 2009, signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. The fact that this act was Obama’s first bill signed into law, may signal a busy year ahead for labor legislation.

 

In a statement before the signing, President Obama said, “ did not set out to be a trailblazer or a household name. She was just a good hard worker who did her job — and she did it well — for nearly two decades before discovering that for years, she was paid less than her male colleagues for doing the very same work. Over the course of her career, she lost more than $200,000 in salary, and even more in pension and — losses that she still feels today.”

 

Lilly Ledbetter worked at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company for two decades before learning that she had consistently been paid less than her male colleagues for the identical job. She filed suit (more…)

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