Thursday, January 29, 2009

Yet another reason why I like Obama

I didn't need any more reasons; I really like our new president a lot. He's thoughtful, he's intelligent, he's funny, and he's serious. A little over a week into his presidency, he hasn't backed down from any serious issues, and so far, I'm proud of everything he has done. Frankly, it is nice to say that again: I'm proud to be an American. There was a long, long time I couldn't way that at all.

Today President Obama signed the Lily Ledbetter Equal Pay Act into law. While it doesn't do everything I want an equal pay act to do, it does make it infinitely easier for people to sue their employers on the basis of pay discrimination, effectively nullifying the previous Supreme Court ruling, which said employees had to sue employers within 180 days of a company's initial decision to pay an employee less than another. Obama seems to get what the Bush administration and event the Supreme Court didn't: this isn't only a gender issue. This is a family issue as pay discrimination makes it impossible for families to improve and to get ahead. Further, the bill is worded in such a way that employees can sue discrimination they suffered on the basis of gender, racial, religion, age, or nationality. This is a good day for America.

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