Labor Updates (4/25/08)

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
Senate Republicans Kill Equal Pay Bill: A minority of Senate Republicans blocked a vote on a bill, Wednesday, that would have re-established workers’ rights to sue their employer over pay discrimination, reports James Parks on the AFL-CIO Now Weblog. The bill – the Fair Pay Restoration Act – would have reversed a 2007 US Supreme Court ruling that sets a 180-day limit for workers to file a claim from the time their employer decides to discriminate against them. “This standard is nearly impossible to meet,” Deborah Vagins of the American Civil Liberties Union told Parks. “If unscrupulous employers can hide their unfair pay decisions for just a few months, under this new rule, they can never be held to task for discriminating.” Click here to read Parks’ full story.