President Barack Obama today signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law. The bill is the first legislation enacted by the new President and expands the legal protection for women against pay discrimination by relaxing the statute of limitations for lawsuits over the practice.

The bill, sponsored by Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski, was named for an Alabama woman who worked for 19 years as a supervisor at a tire factory only to discover at the end of her career that her male colleagues earned more than she did. Ledbetter sued her former company for pay discrimination in a case that eventually wound up before the Supreme Court but was dismissed on the grounds that it wasn’t filed within 180 days of the first day she was paid less than her peers. The Fair Pay Act changes the limit on the time in which suits can be filed to within six months of every time a paycheck is received.

President Obama said about the new bill, “It is fitting that with the very first bill I sign — the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act — we are upholding one of this nation’s first principles: that we are all created equal and each deserve a chance to pursue our own version of happiness,”.

You can takepart in assuring equal rights for women by checking out the National Organization for Women.

LINKS:

USA Today: Obama signs Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

CNN: Day of vindication for Grandma as pay law signed

Kansas City Star: Are women equal yet?