 Alternate Headline: Republican Wet Dream: Voting to Screw all WomenVoting strictly along party lines, our Representative in U.S. Congress for the 26th district has chosen to put party before parity, and corporate aristocracy before his constituents. (Note to Mike: Human beings VOTE. as an OB-GYN, you should be aware that approximate 50% of said human beings are FEMALE. Last time I checked, corporations still hadn't earned suffrage rights in this country, and women still earn less than their counterparts who are male.) He voted against H.R. 2831, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. (Which passed thanks to a Democratic Majority)
The bill now goes to the Senate for approval.
The bill was a response to a terrible Supreme Court ruling in the case of Ledbetter v. Goodyear, in which the court ruled 5 to 4 that workers who face wage discrimination only have 180 days to challenge the initial discrimination in court.
This ruling basically said that if your boss screws you by paying you less than your co-workers for the same job because you have a vagina, you only have 6 months to figure it out and sue. As everyone knows, the first thing you do in your first six months on the job is compare paystubs with your counterparts to see which race and gender earns the most.
Unlike many Supreme Court rulings, this was based on a flawed interpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which meant that Congress needed only to change the wording of the law to undo the Court's ruling.
The bill in question clarified by doing two things: Defines when the discrimination occurs, effectively removing the time limit, and allows damages to accrue for up to 2 years. Under this law, Ledbetter would have recovered up to 2 years of the pay she was shorted.
It is quite unfortunate that our own Representative here in Denton County / District 26 thinks this screwball interpretation is OK. But that's the Republican line, isn't it? Screw unto others before they screw unto you?
Women, minorities, and everyone else who is subject to employment discrimination: Take note! Remember what Michael Burgess tried to do to you today. He put the interests of corporations (read: Campaign Contributors) before the interests of his constituents.
Perhaps we should look into Michael Burgess' medical practice, his Congressional office payroll, and the payroll at Medical Center of Lewisville and see whether there is some gender disparity in salaries.
For what it's worth, only two Republicans voted for the bill. Other Texas Republican Congressmen all voted No, except Sam Johnson, who couldn't be bothered to vote.
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