Senate Republicans Deny Democrats Consideration Of Fair Pay Act

April 24, 2008 8:57 a.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Republicans in the Senate successfully prevented Democratic colleagues on Wednesday from considering a bill that would have overturned a Supreme Court decision giving employees only 180 days to make pay discrimination complaints. The filibuster by Republicans stood with a vote of 56-42, or four votes shy of the required 60 that would have overcome the legislative obstruction and allowed lawmakers to take up the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

The Supreme Court ruled last year by a vote of 5-4 on a case filed by Lilly Ledbetter against her employer of 20 years, the Goodyear tire company. Ledbetter had claimed she had been paid 40% less than her male co-workers. The Court ruled that two decades was too long a period for the complaint, and reversed a lower court's decision in favor of Ledbetter.

The legislation being pushed by Democratic senators on Wednesday would've increased the length of time employees are given to make pay discrimination complaints. But Republicans argued the bill would only make employers vulnerable to lawsuits.

"I don't know how anyone would oppose something like this. It just makes sense that people should be treated fairly," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said in a statement posted on his website. "Democrats tried to restore equal pay for equal work regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age or disability, but were again blocked by Republican tactics." "We think that this bill is primarily designed to create a massive amount of new litigation in our country, and I think that is the reason for the resistance to its passage on our side," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is quoted in a Los Angeles Time report.

House Democrats passed a similar bill last year, and the White House has threatened a veto once the two chambers come up with a final version of the bill, according to the same report.

"Senate Republicans have thwarted efforts to restore balance in the law and allow victims of wage discrimination to seek justice in the courts," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said in a statement on her website. "In so doing, they have again stopped necessary progress for all Americans."