Lilly Ledbetter, equal pay activist who sued Goodyear for gender discrimination, dies at 86

() – Lilly Ledbetter, whose legal fight for gender pay equality was the inspiration for the Fair Pay Act of 2009, has died at age 86, according to the team making a film about her life.

Ledbetter died of respiratory failure, his family told AL.com.

In the 1990s, after 19 years of working for Goodyear, Ledbetter learned that she had been earning thousands of dollars less each month than other (male) managers.

Ledbetter sued Goodyear in 1999 for gender discrimination. He initially won in federal court in 2003 and was awarded $3.8 million in back wages and damages. The decision was overturned after the tire giant filed an appeal.

The case eventually reached the Supreme Court in 2007, which upheld the lower court’s decision. In a 5-4 decision, the justices ruled that Ledbetter should have filed the lawsuit within 180 days of the first time Goodyear paid him less than his peers. Having missed that deadline, Ledbetter had no grounds to sue, according to the court.

Upon retirement, Ledbetter became an activist and advocate for gender equality.

When Barack Obama became president, the first bill he signed It was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Wage Act.

“I think it was the most incredible emotion I’ve ever had in my life,” she told in 2018. “I’ll leave it behind to have a son and a daughter.”

Obama praised her on social media.

“Lilly did what so many Americans before her did: set high goals for herself and even higher goals for her children and grandchildren,” he said on X. “Michelle and I are grateful for your support and friendship, and we send our love and prayers to her family and to all who continue the fight she started.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also paid tribute on social media to Ledbetter’s fight for equal pay. “My heart goes out to Lilly Ledbetter and her loved ones as they mourn her death,” he said. “Rest in peace”.

The AFL-CIO (the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) described her as a hero. “Lilly Ledbetter simply wanted to be paid the same as her Goodyear co-workers, and her fight took her to the Supreme Court, Congress and the White House to sign the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. “She was a true hero and we send our deepest condolences to her family.”

Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, said on social media that Ledbetter’s simple phrase “equal pay for equal work” had changed his understanding.

“It’s surprising that as a CEO, I witnessed firsthand how large the pay disparities were, not only at my own company, but at so many others we acquired. Lilly taught me that the fight for equality begins with pay equity. There can be no true equality without it. “My heart goes out to Lilly’s family,” Benioff wrote.

Ledbetter continued to advocate for equal pay, writing an op-ed for in 2019 as Congress was once again set to debate the Fair Pay Act, which was and has not been passed.

“(The pay gap) is a reality that I feel a responsibility to share with the young women I know across the country. Although I was in your shoes decades ago, the reality of wage discrimination has not gone away,” he wrote. “One of the reasons is that our laws are simply not good enough.”

When paying his respects to X, Representative Chuy García reiterated that the battle for equal pay continues.

“Lilly Ledbetter fought tirelessly for equal pay for men and women. We mourn your loss and continue your fight. As long as Latina and black women earn between 51 and 66 cents for every dollar a white man earns, Lilly’s fight is not over,” García wrote.

Starting in 2024, for every dollar a man earns, a woman earns 84 cents, according to the National Fair Pay Committee and the Equal Pay Today campaign. That’s based on full-year earnings data for full-time workers from the 2022 U.S. Census, which was the most recent full-year data set available.

If part-time workers and those not employed year-round are included, the gender pay gap is worse, at 78 cents on the dollar, said Deborah Vagins, national campaign director for Equal Rights Advocates and director of Equal Pay Today. reported in March.

According to IMDB, “Lilly,” a movie about her life, will be released this year.

‘s Vanessa Yurkevich and Jeanne Sahadi contributed to this report.