Obama Signs Fair Pay Act - His Female Staffers Made 78% of Males' Pay in SenateFriday, January 30, 2009 By Fred Lucas, Staff Writer

Friday, January 30, 2009
By Fred Lucas, Staff Writer

(CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama, keeping a campaign pledge, signed a law Thursday to make it easier to sue employers for pay discrimination.

In a ceremony in the East Room of the White House flanked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden, Obama spoke as Lilly Ledbetter – a former Goodyear Tire manager from Alabama, whose case inspired the new law – stood beside him.

“While this bill bears her name, Lilly knows this story isn’t just about her,” Obama said. “It is a story of women across this country still earning just 78 cents for every $1 men earn, women of color even less, which means that today in the year 2009, countless women are still losing thousands of dollars in salary, income, and retirement savings over the course of a lifetime.”

Women who worked on Obama’s Senate staff last year, however, were themselves paid on average 78 cents for every dollar a man was paid, according to data last year from the Report of the Secretary of the Senate. (Full story at CNSNews.com)