I grew up in Possum Trot, Ala., chopping cotton in the springtime and picking it in the fall. The work was hard on our hands and the sun was hot on our skin. But we learned early on -- boys and girls alike -- that we had to do a good day's work for a good day's pay.
Years later I was hired as an overnight manager at a Goodyear factory. I thought the same principle I learned in my poor, rural town still was true, so I worked just as hard as everyone else.
I got some treatment you might expect as a young woman at a factory in the South -- so I worked even harder to prove to the men around me that I was smart and good at what I did. I took pride in my job. And twice a month I went to my mailbox and found the paycheck I thought I'd earned.
One day I opened that mailbox and found something that would change my life. An anonymous coworker -- to this day, I don't know who -- had left a pencil-written note on a torn piece of paper with some numbers on it. It showed how much more my male coworkers were making, even though they had less education, training and experience.
I'd been at Goodyear almost 20 years, and was still making 20 percent less than the lowest-paid male supervisor in my same position. I'd been praised and promoted by my bosses, but rewarded with much smaller raises than my male coworkers got.
It hit me in the gut like a ton of bricks. I immediately thought of the countless overtime hours that I worked every chance I could, and realized I was paid for them based on an unfair salary. All those good days of work hadn't earned me the good day's pay I deserved.
It was about fairness, and it was against the law. It was about supporting my family -- school, doctors' bills, groceries and the mortgage. It was about my local economy, and the money I didn't have to spend in the community.
And it was about my retirement: Since that's based on our salaries, too, I'm still shortchanged long after I've stopped working. Because my Goodyear pension isn't enough to pay two bills, I burned through my small 401(k) in two years before I became eligible for Social Security.
So I went to court, and won. The company appealed and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court, where Goodyear won by one vote. The Court said I should have filed my complaint within six months of the first unfair paycheck I'd received almost two decades earlier. There was nothing the men could do that I couldn't -- but I couldn't fight for fair pay if I didn't even know I was being paid unfairly. Like so many women, I've never asked for or gotten a handout. I've only asked for a fair shot.
Barack Obama heard about my case and went to work. His grandmother worked in a bank her whole life, including long after she'd hit the glass ceiling. She even had to train the men who were paid higher salaries to do the work she'd showed them how to do. And he never wants his two girls to be disrespected in the same way.
As a senator he fought to give women enough time to file a complaint after we learn we're being discriminated against and underpaid. He believes we should reward hard work and responsibility. He stands up for the middle class because he's struggled, too. And he continues to fight because he knows what happened over a generation can't be fixed overnight.
I had to wait more than a decade and a half before I even knew I was being discriminated against. Within a week and a half after President Obama was inaugurated, he signed his name to the law that bears mine. Three years ago today, he made it the very first one he enacted.
I'll never see a cent of the salary I lost over all those years at Goodyear. My case is over and the Lilly Ledbetter law won't help Lilly Ledbetter. But in recognizing what's right and fair, President Obama's leadership has given me a much richer reward: knowing that my daughter, my granddaughter and every other woman in America will never again feel helpless when they don't get an equal day's pay for an equal day's work.
A version of this post appeared in the Charlotte Observer.
For six years I have posted videos, sent emails, posted on various news, and Pres Obama websites seeking to give my case and African-American employment discrimination victims a voice and to have the Civil Right Act amended again to prevent one judge from unjustly dismissing employment discrimination cases. My latest efforts included a video and an open letter to President Obama that stated in part: “ On 1/29/09, you signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act which amended the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Like Ledbetter based on my belief that other Civil Rights Act of 1964 employment discrimination and retaliation victims will unjustly be denied a jury trial I am still fighting." I too could have given up and avoided the unimaginable pain and depression that continues to occur in my life 14 years after initially filing my Pro-Se lawsuit, ten years after the U S Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit refused to reverse the unjust dismissal of my lawsuit, 10 years since my disability retirement appeal wasunjustly denied, and 9 years after the Supreme Court refused to review my Pro-Se case.
When will Pres Obama help me?
I don't know the merits of your case, but can appreciate your frustration.
Wow, a lot a negativity for the comments on this one. I wasn't expecting it but I guess I should have been. Private citizens can pay their workers (above minimum wage) whatever they want. BUT if 2 employees are doing the same work, and one of them makes a good case (like the person being paid less has seniority, no negative counselings, etc) and is being paid 20 percent less. Then that, my constitution lovers, falls under the 14th amendment. So yes, there needs to be fairness in the workplace.
One the monetary front the extra income per houshold has sered to increase demand and push prices up. hence the work more for less outcome.
Violently demanding to be paid 25% *more* is *not* equal pay for *equal* work.
The thing is that SOMEONE needs to be the principle caregiver and be able to take charge if their children get sick or need extra attention. And often this falls on the mom. Not always, but often.
Even if it is true that women are consistently paid less for "unfair" reasons, where does the government get the power to force private citizens to pay their employees fairly? Which part of the Constitution grants the federal government that power?
The part of the constitution that allows Congress & the President to make laws.
The Lily Ledbetter law opens the door to promoting less comptent people in the name of "diversity".
That said, it's unfortunate, but true that people who lift heavy things often don't make as much money as that that sit at desks all day.