WASHINGTON—AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, U.S. Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama, and Vice President Kamala Harris lauded fair pay champion Lilly Ledbetter, the Alabama tire plant supervisor whose activism in that cause—after she lost her pay discrimination case in the U.S. Supreme Court—led to a landmark law letting workers sue for their rights. Ledbetter died at 86 on October 12.
Ledbetter was a longtime supervisor at the Steelworker-unionized Gadsden, Ala., Goodyear Tire plant. She rose to prominence when, after almost two decades on the job and on the verge of retirement, an anonymous colleague slipped her information that male supervisors with less tenure—some of whom she had trained—started at higher pay and were earning more than she did.
The pay discrimination had started on her first day on the job, but she didn’t find out until she was about to leave. By then, the pay gaps hurting Ledbetter versus each man were at least $900 monthly.
Ledbetter took her complaint, citing the Equal Pay Act, to the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission and, when Goodyear refused to compromise, to court. Lower courts split on awarding her back pay and damages. Ledbetter lost her sexual pay discrimination case, 5-4, in the Supreme Court, and with it back pay and damages. The five-justice majority, led by Justice Samuel Alito, said discrimination victims have only 180 days after their first paycheck to sue. Further suits were barred.
A steaming Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, leading the minority, read her dissent from the bench, declaring the majority blatantly ignored reality on the job: That workers suffering pay discrimination usually don’t find out until long after it began. And that its impact mounts, costing thousands each.
Justice Ginsburg, a noted equal rights advocate both before courts and on the bench, urged Congress to fix the law. Pushed by lobbying from women’s rights and equal pay groups—and led by Ledbetter—it did, removing that limit. Now the clock resets after every discriminatory paycheck.
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was the first law Obama signed in 2009, with a smiling Ledbetter standing right behind him and receiving the first pen of those he used. By then, Ledbetter had become a national crusader for fair pay and equal pay on the job.
“Lilly Ledbetter will forever be remembered as a trailblazing activist whose fight for fairness in the workplace led to the passage of groundbreaking equal pay legislation. We’re deeply saddened by her passing but are comforted knowing her life’s work lives on in every woman worker who has refused to accept the unfair status quo,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said of “a true American hero.”
“Over the course of her career, she lost out on more than $200,000 in wages, plus even more in retirement benefits. She challenged Goodyear’s discriminatory actions, eventually taking her case to the U.S. Supreme Court and the halls of Congress. In 2009, then-President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, giving women and all workers the right to sue over pay discrimination.
“Fifteen years later, there is far more that needs to be done to eliminate the gender pay gap once and for all. Despite the progress women have made in the workplace, the disparity is actually widening.
“Women working full time, year-round were paid 83 cents for every dollar paid to white men in 2023, compared to 84 cents in 2022.” The gap is even wider for woman workers of color.
There’s a second union connection to Lilly Ledbetter’s fair pay fight for working women. During a break in a House committee hearing on what would become the Lilly Ledbetter Act, a reporter who knew the plant was unionized with the Steelworkers confirmed that with her.
Then the reporter asked Ledbetter if she were a worker covered by the USW contract and not a supervisor—whom labor law does not cover—whether the pay discrimination had occurred.
Her answer was “No, it would not.” She would have had equal pay for equal work.
Shuler says so, too: “The single best tool women have to close the pay gap in their workplace is a union contract. That’s why the fight for equal pay must include the fight to protect collective bargaining and the right to form a union, alongside state and federal legislation to ensure every worker is paid fairly, no matter who we are.”
Other tributes rolled in, though none came from Republicans. As part of her equal pay campaign over the years, Ledbetter spoke at two Democratic conventions.
“Lilly Ledbetter never set out to be a trailblazer or a household name,” said President Obama. “She just wanted to be paid the same as a man for her hard work. But this grandmother from Alabama kept on fighting until the day I signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law.
Ledbetter was “setting her sights high for herself and even higher for her children and grandchildren. Michelle and I are grateful for her advocacy and her friendship, and we send our love and prayers to her family and everyone who is continuing the fight that she began.”
President Biden called Ledbetter “a fearless leader and advocate for equal pay” whose “fight began on the factory floor and reached the Supreme Court and Congress, and she never stopped fighting for all Americans to be paid what they deserve.
“Lilly’s decades of relentless advocacy inspired us all and have brought us closer to living up to our Nation’s core values of equality and fairness. Vice President Harris and I remain committed to building on Lilly’s legacy and strengthening equal pay protections for all workers,” he stated.
“When we lift up the economic status of women, we lift up the economic status of families and communities—and all of society benefits,” added Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee. “That’s why I co-sponsored the Paycheck Fairness Act in the Senate, a bill Lilly was a powerful supporter of, and which would further increase pay transparency.“ Harris pledged to continue that fight “to honor Lilly’s legacy, and continue building a more fair and equitable future for women, and all Americans.”
“As we bid farewell to our sister, Lilly Ledbetter, let us carry forward her love and her commitment to employment discrimination,” Coalition of Labor Union Women President Elise Bryant said. Bryant, a News Guild member and former local VP, and Ledbetter partnered in many equal pay fights.
“Though she may no longer be with us in body, her spirit will forever echo in our hearts, reminding us to cherish each moment and hold tight to the promise of America that all people are created equal and deserve equal pay…Congress later passed legislation, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, that restarted the 180-day clock every time a discriminatory paycheck was received. Thank you, Lilly!
“On April 8, 2025, National Equal Pay Day, CLUW will join with millions of activists around the country to envision and demand an end to pay discrimination and in memory of the life and work of Lilly Ledbetter.”
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