Equal pay icon Lilly Ledbetter dies

By Sheri Williams

Lilly Ledbetter, the Alabama grandmother who fought to end pay discrimination for women, died in October, leaving behind a legacy as a pioneer who inspired generations to continue the ongoing fight for equality.

“Lilly Ledbetter will forever be remembered as a trailblazing activist whose fight for fairness in the workplace led to the passage of groundbreaking equal pay legislation,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. “We’re deeply saddened by her passing but are comforted knowing that her life’s work lives on in every woman worker who has refused to accept the unfair status quo.”

Ledbetter was born in Jacksonville, Alabama. In 1979, with two small children at home, she took a job working 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. as a shift manager at a local Goodyear plant.

In 1998, after 11 years at the company, Ledbetter was going about her regular day when she checked her office mail and found an anonymous note that listed her pay along with two male colleagues, showing she was making hundreds of dollars less each month that co-workers with the same title and job duties.

“When I saw that, it took my breath away. I felt humiliated. I felt degraded,” Ledbetter recalled in an interview with NPR in 2009. “I had to sort of get my composure back to go ahead to perform my job and then, the first day off, I went to Birmingham, Ala., and filed a charge with the EEOC.”

Her legal battle would last more than 10 years and brought little satisfaction.

She won her first trial and was awarded millions. However, that win was reversed when Goodyear appealed.

The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, where Ledbetter was again disappointed by a technicality when the court ruled that that wage discrimination claims must be filed within 180 days of the start of the discrimination.

That decision, authored by Justice Samuel Alito, allowed pay discrimination against women to continue.

Former Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg wrote a dissenting opinion, which pointed out that any change would need to come from Congress. “Once again, the ball is in Congress’ court,” she wrote.

Two years later, Congress did just that by passing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which changed the statute of limitations to 180 days from the employee’s last paycheck that included discrimination. It cemented Ledbetter in history and ensured that the hardship she faced fighting discrimination would not similarly harm future generations of women.

The new law amended the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by allowing workers to “obtain relief, including recovery of back pay, for up to two years preceding the filing of the charge.”

The Lilly Ledbetter Act was the first bill signed into law by then-President Barack Obama, giving all women a legal right to equal pay for equal work.

“Lilly Ledbetter never set out to be a trailblazer or a household name. She just wanted to be paid the same as a man for her hard work. But this grandmother from Alabama kept on fighting until the day I signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law—my first as president,” said former president Barack Obama in a social media statement after her death.

“Lilly did what so many Americans before her have done: setting her sights high for herself and even higher for her children and grandchildren. Michelle and I are grateful for her advocacy and her friendship, and we send our love and prayers to her family and everyone who is continuing the fight that she began.”

Despite Ledbetter’s groundbreaking fight, women are still not paid the same as men. Women made about 83 cents for every dollar paid to men in 2023. That disparity increases for women of color. Black women make about 66 for every dollar paid to a white man. Latinas are the hardest hit by the pay disparity, making only 58 cents for every dollar paid to a white man.

In California, women lose $87 billion to the pay gap every year.

“The single best tool women have to close the pay gap in their workplace is a union contract,” said Shuler. “That’s why the fight for equal pay must include the fight to protect collective bargaining and the right to form a union, alongside state and federal legislation to ensure every worker is paid fairly, no matter who we are.

“Lilly was a true American hero, and we stand firmly committed to continuing her fight and realizing her dream of equal pay for all. On behalf of the entire American labor movement, we thank her for being a champion for equity and fairness, and we send our deepest condolences to her family and all who loved her.”