Supreme Court Narrows Wage Discrimination Claims
June 01, 2007
On May 29, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court resolved a circuit split in favor of employers by issuing a ruling in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Inc., No. 05-1074, -- S. Ct. --, 2007 WL 1528298 (May 29, 2007). In this 5-4 decision, the Court agreed with the Eleventh Circuit and found that under Title VII, a plaintiff must file an EEOC charge within 180 or 300 days (depending on the state) of the discriminatory pay decision (the "charging period"). Rejecting the plaintiff-employee's claim, the Court held that paychecks issued later on as result of a discriminatory pay decision do not "restart the clock" for filing an EEOC charge and cannot alone support a Title VII claim.
