The Right Decision - But Not by the Court

There was a case recently decided by the Supremes, as I occasionally refer to the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. The Plaintiff (the person who sues) was named Ledbetter, so the case is naturally known as Ledbetter (too obvious? sorry).

To understand the case we need to understand something about how one part of the law works. If you have a basis for suing someone, there's a time limitation for filing that suit. If you don't file it within that time, your lawsuit will be subject to being dismissed.

With that out of the way, it's easier to understand the Ledbetter decision. Ms. Ledbetter sued for sexual discrimination, alleging that men who did the same work she did had been getting paid more than she did. If her allegation is true, under the law she'd be entitled to collect money from her now-former employer.

Without deciding the merits of her case, the Supremes decided that she wasn't entitled to have her case proceed, because the time to bring her suit had started running on the first paycheck she received where a man allegedly received more for the same work.

Since Ms. Ledbetter says she didn't find out about the discriminatory pay until years later, she said that was unfair and not what the law intended.

The other day both houses of Congress passed a law that said, in effect, that Ms. Ledbetter's correct and the Supremes were wrong.

While Congress can't overturn a Supreme Court ruling, their legislation -- assuming President Obama signs the law -- will have the impact on any future such case that a person brings to court. Under the new law, the old law will be interpreted to mean that the statute begins to run when the supposed victim discovers the discrimination.

As a side note, I'm not characterizing Ms. Ledbetter or any person who claims discrimination as a fake. I use the phrase "supposed victim," only because until something's proved in a court, it's presumed to be "alleged" or "supposed," because the matter hasn't been decided.

As a matter of logic and fairness, the Court was wrong and Congress was right. If you don't know of something that victimizes you and causes you financial damage, how are you supposed to know that the clock is ticking on your right to sue?

This demonstrates that elections matter and the one that elected our 43rd president created a court that's very anti-employee. But as we all know, we've just inaugurated his replacement.

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