Who is Lilly Ledbetter and why should I care?
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Trivia time.
Q: Can you name the first bill signed into law by President Barack Obama?
A: The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
We’re not exactly plowing the proverbial information highway here but you gotta start someplace. Why here? Because, even though it’s old news, the Lilly Ledbetter law is still unknown to a lot of small- and medium-sized business owners who really should know about it.
Simply stated, the Lilly Ledbetter Law makes it easier for employees (including recently terminated and disgruntled former employees) to successfully sue their employers for pay discrimination.
Know this: if you employ people, recently employed people or plan to employ people, Lilly Ledbetter could make your life more complicated and expensive. Pay discrimination stinks, yes. Lilly Ledbetter may have changed employment law for the better but it didn’t change the law of unintended consequences. And we foresee one consequence with certainty; more lawsuits.
Regardless of whether you think your employment practices are fair and equal in every respect, all it takes is one unhappy worker with a contrary opinion and a lawyer willing to put it to the test. Needless to say, there are plenty of both in this land of litigation and double-digit unemployment.
A lawsuit against your business, regardless of merit, is bound to get expensive. Good legal help doesn’t come cheap just because you’re right. So, if you haven’t looked at your business owner’s policy in the last year or so, you might want to break it out. If you don’t have Employment Practices Liability (EPL) Insurance, you might want to look into it. Contact a good insurance agent and ask how to obtain coverage that’s both adequate and affordable.
