In a 5-4 decision, the Court holds that the time period for filing a pay discrimination claim is triggered at the time the pay decision is made, not upon each subsequent paycheck which carries the effect of the discrimination. The case involved a female employee of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. who was paid less than equivalent male employees throughout her 19-year employment. She filed a formal sex discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in the last year of her employment and subsequently sued Goodyear, winning a jury trial which awarded her backpay and compensatory and punitive damages. However, the Eleventh Circuit overturned the verdict, and the Supreme Court majority agreed, reasoning that because “a pay-setting decision is a ‘discrete act,’ it follows that the period for filing an EEOC charge begins when the act occurs.” This meant that the employee had up to 300 days from the date of the discriminatory pay decision to file her charge, not from each paycheck she received. Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
U.S. Supreme Court Limits Claims for Adverse Effects of Past Discrimination
In a 5-4 decision, the Court holds that the time period for filing a pay discrimination claim is triggered at the time the pay decision is made, not upon each subsequent paycheck which carries the effect of the discrimination. The case involved a female employee of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. who was paid less than equivalent male employees throughout her 19-year employment. She filed a formal sex discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in the last year of her employment and subsequently sued Goodyear, winning a jury trial which awarded her backpay and compensatory and punitive damages. However, the Eleventh Circuit overturned the verdict, and the Supreme Court majority agreed, reasoning that because “a pay-setting decision is a ‘discrete act,’ it follows that the period for filing an EEOC charge begins when the act occurs.” This meant that the employee had up to 300 days from the date of the discriminatory pay decision to file her charge, not from each paycheck she received. Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
