Employment attorney Camille Olson Quoted in Inside Counsel
"Court Defines Limitations on Ledbetter Act"

Chicago-based employment partner Camille Olson was quoted in Inside Counsel discussing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the 3rd Circuit Noel v. Boeing Co. decision. Camille noted that the rapid decisions coming down on the scope of the Ledbetter Act are helpful for lawyers on both the plaintiff and defense side of employment disputes. "The 3rd Circuit joins the D.C. Circuit, and there are a number of cases in the district courts in the 7th Circuit that have held the same thing," she said. "It’s showing a clear trend in the case law that Lilly Ledbetter isn’t meant to apply to anything except pay decisions."

According to the article, Noel tried to argue that his claim was covered based on the language in Ledbetter that said its purpose was to "clarify that a discriminatory compensation decision or other practice that is unlawful under such Acts occurs each time compensation is paid pursuant to the discriminatory compensation decision or other practice, and for other purposes." The article noted that the 3rd Circuit ruled that Congress didn’t intend for the "other practice" language to cover discriminatory employment decisions. In fact, Camille said, Congress went through pains to make it clear that that was not its intent. The purpose of the Ledbetter Act, she commented, is to recognize that in cases of disparate, discriminatory pay for equal work, employees may not be aware the discrimination is occurring within 300 days of the first instance and that different administrative standards should apply. "If Congress intended to say that an unlawful employment practice occurs every time a discriminatory employment decision is made or adopted that affects somebody’s pay, that’s what the act would say, but it doesn’t say that," she added.

Read the article here: http://www.insidecounsel.com/Issues/2010/December-2010/Pages/Court-Defines-Limitations-on-Ledbetter-Act.aspx?page=2.