The Roberts Court has time and time again bent over backwards to construe the law in such ways as to make claims of discrimination by individuals against their employers nearly impossible to substantiate. Or, as in the case of Lilly Ledbetter, nearly impossible to even file the petition.
It was a bit heartening to see Sen. Patrick Leahy draw the obvious parallel to Ledbetter in the Wall Street Journal today,
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.) said the opinion reminded him of the Ledbetter pay-discrimination case Congress recently overturned. "In the Supreme Court's decision today five justices acted to disregard precedent," Mr. Leahy said.
Hopefully this means that Leahy, Congressional Democrats and President Obama will act as the did in Ledbetter and thwart the Court's ruling by amending the statute in question back to its original meaning.
2 comments:
FWIW, the blow to employees is more glancing than serious. It doesn't favor employees, but it is relatively subtle.
Employees generally don't do very well on appeal, but Iqbal, on pleading standards, probably hurts more than this case does, even though this is more specific to age discrimination claims.
I do some work on similar claims so this one hit a bit close to home. Plus the brazenness of the decision is pretty appalling.
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