An act named after plaintiff Lilly Ledbetter of the Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Inc. case which facilitated the process of bringing suit for plaintiffs challenging sex-based pay discrimination by renewing the 180-day statute of limitations each time an employee receives a paycheck. Congress passed this act in 2009 to amend Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and to overturn the Supreme Court’s holding in Ledbetter, which stipulated that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charge begins running on the day pay was first set by an employer.
[Last updated in June of 2020 by the Wex Definitions Team]