Grace and Grit (36 page)
Authors: Lilly Ledbetter
(c) S
MALL
B
USINESSES
—A small business shall be exempt from the provisions of this Act to the same extent that such business is exempt from the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act pursuant to section 3(s)(1)(A)(i) and (ii) of such Act.
.
Nothing in this Act, or in any amendments made by this Act, shall affect the obligation of employers and employees to fully comply with all applicable immigration laws, including any penalties, fines, or other sanctions.
RESOURCESP
ROCESS FOR
F
ILING A
C
OMPLAINT OF
E
MPLOYMENT
D
ISCRIMINATION
T
HE
E
QUAL
Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), established as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, enforces Title VII and other antidiscrimination laws such as the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and the Equal Pay Act. Sex-discrimination claims must use Title VII, which requires that an employee file a charge of discrimination within 180 days of the act of discrimination. Some states have their own antidiscrimination laws and give the employee 300 days from the act of discrimination to file, while federal employees have a different complaint process and must contact an EEO counselor within 45 days.
Before filing a federal lawsuit for discrimination and harassment under Title VII, you must first file a charge of discrimination with the EEOC, which then investigates the charge, requesting relevant information and documents pertaining to the charge from both the employee and employer. At the end of its investigation, the EEOC may close its file without completing the investigation, conclude that it did not find a violation of law occurred, or conclude that there is substantial evidence of a violation, otherwise known as “cause determination.”
If the EEOC makes a cause determination, it will attempt to conciliate the case by achieving a settlement between the parties, as well as require the employer to take certain steps to preclude future occurrences of discrimination or sexual harassment. If this fails, the EEOC has the right to file its own case against the
employer and the employee may join that case with her own attorney. If the EEOC does not pursue its own case, it will issue a right to sue and the employee has 90 days to file in federal court.
If the EEOC closes its file without completing the investigation or is unable to conclude a violation occurred, it will also issue a notice of right to sue. The employee then has 90 days to file her case in federal court, losing her opportunity to file once that 90 days has passed.
A violation under the Equal Pay Act does not require an employee to file a charge with the EEOC. The time limit for filing a case in federal court is two years within the alleged unlawful compensation practice; in the case of a willful violation, the limit is three years.
A
DVOCACY
While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their contents
.
American Association of
University Women
Phone: 800-326-AAUW
ACLU Women’s Rights Project
(co-founded by Ruth Bader Ginsburg)
Phone: 212-549-2500
Black Women United for Action
Phone: 703-922-5757
Business and Professional Women’s Foundation
Phone: 202-293-1100
Coalition of Labor Union Women
Phone: 202-508-6969
Equal Employment Opportunity Center
Phone: 800-699-4000
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Phone: 800-669-4000
Equal Rights Advocates
Advice and Counseling Hotline:
800-839-4ERA (4372).
The hotline provides advice on differential treatment of women and girls at work or school, unequal pay, pregnancy discrimination, family leave, and sexual harassment.
Federally Employed Women
Phone: 402-898-0994
Feminist Majority Foundation
Phone: 703-522-2214
General Federation of Women’s Clubs
Phone: 202-347-3168
MANA, A National Latina Organization
Phone: 202-833-0060
Moms Rising
National Association of Commissions for Women
Phone: 505-681-8629
National Committee on Pay Equity
Phone: 703-920-2010
National Council of Jewish Women
Phone: 202-296-2588
(Washington, D.C., office);
212-645-4048 (New York City headquarters)
National Congress of Black Women
Phone: 202-678-6788
National Council of Negro Women
Phone: 202-737-0120
National Council of Women’s Organizations
Phone: 202-293-4505
National Organization for Women
Phone: 202-628-8669
National Partnership for Women and Families
Phone: 202-986-2600
National Women’s Political Caucus
Phone: 202-785-1100
9 to 5 National Association of Working Women
Phone: 414-274-0925; Job Survival
Helpline: 800-522-0925 and
The hotline provides information on sexual harassment, family leave, pregnancy discrimination, and other employment issues.
Nontraditional Employment for Women
Phone: 212-627-6252
OWL: The Voice of Midlife and Older Women
Phone: 877-653-7966
The Wage Project
Wider Opportunities for Women
Phone: 202-464-1596
Women Employed
Phone: 312-782-3902
Women Employed provides telephone counseling to women facing employment problems
Friday 10
A.M
.–12
P.M
. (CT).
Women Work! The National Network for Women’s Employment
Phone: 412-281-9240;
866-PAWOMEN (729-6636)
YWCA USA
Phone: 202-467-0801
L
EGAL
National Women’s Law Center
Phone: 202-588-5180
Women’s Law and Policy Project/Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law
Phone: 312-263-3830
S
UPREME
C
OURT
D
ECISIONS
Oyez Project
P
ROFESSIONAL
National Association for Female Executives
Phone: 212-351-6451
U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce
Phone: 888-41-USWCC
R
ESEARCH
Catalyst
Phone: 212-514-7600
Cornell University Institute for Women & Work
Phone: 212-340-2836
Institute for Women’s Policy Research
Phone: 202-785-5100
National Council for Research on Women
Phone: 212-785-7335
FURTHER READINGBrzezinski, Mika.
Knowing Your Value: Women, Money, and Getting What You’re Worth
. New York: Weinstein Books, 2010.
Burk, Martha.
Cult of Power: Sex Discrimination in Corporate America and What We Can Do About It
. New York: Scribner, 2005.
———
.
Your Money and Your Life: The High Stakes for Women Voters in ’08 and Beyond
. Austin: A.U. Publishing, 2008.
Collins, Gail.
When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present
. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2009.
Greenhouse, Linda. “Justices Limit Discrimination Suits over Pay.”
New York Times
, May 29, 2007.
Murphy, Evelyn, with E. J. Graff.
Getting Even: Why Women Don’t Get Paid Like Men—and What to Do About It
. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTSI
NEVER COULD
have made this journey alone, a journey that began in rural Alabama in one of the poorest counties in the country and led me to the Supreme Court, on to Congress, and all the way to the White House. Countless individuals and organizations contributed to the successful passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act in January 2009. Individuals committed to pay equity—both women and men, young and old, rich and poor—supported me on my long journey. Legal, political, nonprofit, business, and professional groups provided the practical guidance and financial means to sustain this endeavor I’d embarked upon. Without so many passionate people, my story would have had a very different ending. To all, I am most thankful and forever grateful.
