Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, unsuccessful by 4 votes

In California, predominantly in Los Angeles, people of different colors are emigrating mainly because of better work opportunities and lower cost of living.

The United States of America is identified as the “melting pot” of all races. However, it is sad to realize that some races think they are far superior to the others.

It was only recently when the Democrats were unsuccessful in the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act when the Republicans blocked the Bill by a vote of 52-46. The said act was supposed to extend the 180-day period in which to file discrimination claims. Passage of said bill could have given the employees 2 years to file a claim.

Republicans contend that the passage of said bill would only clog the already busy judiciary of discrimination cases already outside the prescribed period.

I disagree with the Republicans. The bill could have given employees, like Lilly Ledbetter, more protection from employers who discriminate them on account of their gender or age. Who cares if discrimination cases build up? Isn’t this all the more reason to push through with the bill? This would only mean that democracy is alive in this country. More people could have been encouraged to voice out their grievances.

Workers, especially women, do not usually disclose to other workers their salaries. As a result, the 180-day period appears to be too short to file a discrimination case.

The law and numerous court rulings point out that the interest of the people should be the country’s primary concern. Why then should the victims of discrimination be left with limited protection, just so the judges could have lesser work to do? Public interest is, I believe, by far more important than observing mere procedural technicalities.