Lilly Ledbetter, whose fight for women’s rights initiated the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act being signed into legislation, died earlier this month on Oct. 12 at the age of 86.
In 1999, Ledbetter had been working for the tire and rubber company Goodyear for 19 years and was looking forward to retirement. One day, she received an anonymous note revealing that she had been paid much less than the men in her exact position. In fact, throughout her career, Ledbetter was paid an estimated $200,000 less than her male counterparts.
Upon this discovery, Ledbetter filed a formal complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. After the complaint had been reviewed, then-60-year-old Lily Ledbetter was reassigned job responsibilities, now doing manual labor duties like lifting heavy tires. Ledbetter proceeded to file a lawsuit against Goodyear for sex discrimination. Although she initially won the case awarding her $3.8 million in restitution, it was overturned in an appeal and ultimately brought to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled against Ledbetter due to a technicality: a discriminatory paycheck policy. The policy required the lawsuit to have been filed within 180 days of the very first discriminatory paycheck ever issued, an impossibility for Ledbetter. Even though she had filed the lawsuit within 180 days of discovering the discrimination, she was still ruled against.
Ledbetter proclaimed that paycheck secrecy was strictly enforced at Goodyear and that people would lose their jobs for disclosing salaries; there was no way for her to have connected the dots. She was completely unaware of the discrimination, but it made no difference to the law. Ledbetter never received any compensation or settlements from Goodyear.
Ledbetter was not disheartened in the least. In the weeks and months following the failed lawsuit, she became a renowned political activist, determined to make a change for women in the workplace and fight for what she believed in. Ledbetter eventually caught some attention by appearing before Congress and other political channels, including former President Barack Obama. In fact, Obama’s very first official piece of legislation was passing The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009. The act removed the paycheck policy loophole and instated a 180-day filing period for each and every discriminatory paycheck issued–not just the initial one that was required of Ledbetter.
Lilly Ledbetter continued to live a full life and remained committed to her fight for women’s rights until her passing. Following the news of her death, Obama posted about her on Instagram, referring to her as a friend and an advocate. Ledbetter is also featured on The National Women’s Hall of Fame website.
Ledbetter was an author, a revolutionist, a role model and a symbol of liberty for minorities everywhere. Although Ledbetter never received restitution, even after the act was passed, she claims that what she did receive was far more valuable. “I told my pastor when I die, I want him to be able to say at my funeral that I made a difference,” she said in an interview with Time.
