ENZI CALLS PROPOSED LEDBETTER BILL AN UNREASONABLE OVERREACH BILL WOULD ELIMINATE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS ON PAY DISCRIMINATION CASES

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Ranking Member ofthe Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today said thatlegislation aimed at overturning the Supreme Court’s decision in a last year’semployment discrimination case, Ledbetter v. Goodyear, would effectively eliminate thestatute of limitations for such cases guaranteed in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, andwould create unreasonable new burdens for both employees and employers. “A statute of limitations serves an important purpose, and that is fairness,” Enzisaid. “The Fair Pay Restoration Act isn’t really about fairness. It effectively underminesthe Title VII statute of limitations, and Congressional intent to fairly and expeditiouslyresolve employment discrimination claims.” Following today’s HELP Committee hearing titled “The Fair Pay Restoration Act:Ensuring Reasonable Rules in Pay Discrimination Cases,” Enzi called the bill underconsideration, S. 1843, “unfair and unreasonable.” “Discrimination in the workplace, or elsewhere, is simply not acceptable.However, wholesale elimination of the statute of limitations does not serve the goals ofemployees or employers, though it will keep America’s trial lawyers and employment barbusy,” Enzi said. “A fair statute of limitations ensures that employees who have faceddiscrimination receive prompt justice. The so-called Fair Pay Restoration Act would putan enormous and unnecessary burden on employers, and it would deprive employees ofan incentive to resolve their claims quickly.” Under current law, employees must file employment discrimination claims withineither 180 days or 300 days, depending on the state in which the case is filed. But S.1843would eliminate the statute and allow individuals to bring claims years or even decadesafter the alleged discrimination occurred – even after the employee has left theworkplace. “If a case is filed decades after an employee claims discrimination occurred,evidence will have been lost, memories will have faded, and witnesses will havedisappeared or passed away, making the case very difficult to resolve,” Enzi said. “Theundeniable reality is that all evidence fades over time, and this is particularly true in ourcountry’s extremely mobile workforce.”