Giving Women Access to the Courts

Sen Bob Corker (R-TN) announced today he’s voting against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.

The Act would guarantee women the right to sue if they’re not getting paid as much as their male co-workers. What, you thought they are already had that right? Not so much.

According to the current Supreme Court, women who aren’t getting paid as much as their male coworkers have a strict 180-day time limit to file a lawsuit -- no exceptions -- and if they don’t discover the pay inequality until after 180 days, they’re screwed. It’s too late, and they have no right to file a lawsuit at all.

How stupid is that?

So stupid that even Republicans want to change the law. They want the 180-day clock to start ticking from the time the woman discovers the pay discrimination. And they’ve appointed openly female Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison to lead the charge.

The Republican version is okay. The Democratic version is better. It gets rid of the clock all together. That’s the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.

Bob Corker is against it. He speculates that it would clog up our court system with frivolous lawsuits. For some reason, he thinks that’s bigger and scary than denying women access to the courts when they’ve been discriminated against.

Corker would rather the law stay like it is -- even though he knows it’s wrong. Even though he knows it’s screwing over women. Even though he knows it’s blocking real-life, legitimate claims of discrimination. That’s worth it to him because maybe there might be some frivolous cases too.

How stupid is that?