Major Change in Employment Law Could Affect Bias Suits at Colleges

President Obama is scheduled to sign a bill today that will make it easier for some workers to win lawsuits over discriminatory pay inequities under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The legislation overturns a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision, in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., that held that employees have only 180 days to file such a lawsuit, starting from the time a company takes a discriminatory action on pay.

The bill, named for the case’s plaintiff, Lilly Ledbetter, gives employees 180 days to file suit after any discriminatory paycheck, essentially restarting the clock each time they are paid.

The new law is a swift victory for the American Association of University Professors, which made it a legislative priority for the current Congress. But its impact on higher education could be limited, especially on college faculties, where differences between pay for men and women are widespread and well documented.

“Public university staff and faculty are more likely to know how their pay stacks up against their peers,” said Ann Franke, a lawyer who specializes in higher-education law. “This reduces the chance that someone would claim, like Lilly Ledbetter, ‘I didn’t know I suffered salary discrimination until I was close to retirement.’”