Lilly Ledbetter Definition

The namesake of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. Ms. Ledbetter was the plaintiff in a lawsuit against her employer, in which she claimed that she had been paid less because of her gender. The U.S. Supreme Court threw out her case because she had not brought it within the 180-day statute of limitations, which the Court held started running on the day that Ms. Ledbetter and her employer first agreed on her pay. The 2009 law was passed by Congress specifically to overturn this decision and establish that the statute of limitations starts over with each paycheck. See: statute of limitations