Don't ask, don't tell, don't know until it's way too late

Yesterday the Supreme Court ruled that Lily Ledbetter, a 60-year old "fiery mother of two," could not make a claim of workplace discrimination (the claim is that for years she was paid between 15% and 40% less than her male counterparts on the management team--a team that included members who were far less qualified than she was) because she attempted to make this claim more than 180 days after the pay was set.

Um. What the HELL does 180 days have to do with this? First of all, very few people would ever, much less within 180 days, know how much their counterparts are making. I know when I was in the corporate world it was INCREDIBLY taboo, if not illegal, to inquire about my colleagues' salaries. How many of you know exactly what your co-workers make? And how many of you keep constant tabs on amounts those folks make as pay periods pass?

The long and the short of this situation is that Ms. Ledbetter got financially screwed because she was a woman, for years. And, because employees don't freely share information about their exact salary packages, it took a while for her to realize how poorly treated she was in comparison to the less qualified males on her team--how much less she was saving for retirement and how many less options she was given in terms of health care.

But hey, it's been more than 180 days since that first or last inequity was instituted. So who cares, right?

A lot of people care, and so should you. Justice Ruth Ginsburg wrote the dissenting opinion for the 5-to-4 decision, and in it she asked Congress to overturn the ruling and clarify the intent of the law. Several Congressional leaders are already stepping forward to counter this outrage by drafting new fair-minded legislation. Let's get behind them so they can pass this legislation immediately.

SIGN THE PETITION & PASS IT ON: Tell Congress, "We Need Equal Pay for Equal Work--it is good law, make it enforceable!"

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