There is the assumption among many people that if you work hard, show effort and are loyal, you will be successful in whatever field they go into.
Unfortunately, this assumption is often countered with factual knowledge of wage inequities, which still exist.
In addition to the egregious problem of employment discrimination, the U.S. Supreme Court passed a ruling Tuesday making it more difficult for workers to sue employers on discrimination charges.
The 5-4 decision, split on the justices' ideological lines, said employers would find it difficult to defend themselves against claims dealing with issues too far in the past.
What this decision means for employees is: If a woman has been at a job for 20 years, all the while earning less than a male counterpart, she can no longer sue the employer. Too much time would have passed for her to begin a lawsuit.
That is what happened to Lilly Ledbetter, who sued Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., claiming she made $6,000 a year less than the lowest-paid man in her position even though she had worked for the company 19 years.
Current federal policy includes a 180-day deadline for employees to file a complaint.
A deadline of 180 days is too short a time in these instances. Often, a person may not even know discrimination is taking place until after this amount of time has passed.
A corporation relying on this deadline allows these employers to win on a technicality, not on the grounds that discrimination was actually not occurring.
Despite the amount of time that passed since the discrimination began, it was still unacceptable and should be corrected.
This is a serious offense by a corporation, and a loophole should not be the solution giving anyone permission to get away with this.
This policy may cause more women to shy away from speaking up about employers' unfair practices.
This should not be a concern these employees need to face. If employees are already dealing with an unfair workplace, the last thing they would want to do is feel that they cannot speak up to put an end to the injustice.
Granted, there are abuses within the legal system. There will always be people making fraudulent claims against corporations in attempts to gain financially.
The more troublesome problem, however, is the continuous pay discrimination.
The U.S. champions itself on being a land of "justice for all," but that is not the case for many people.
The legal system will not be free of frauds - the most to hope for is that these cases will be exposed as fraudulent and they will lose.
If the nation sets up a legal system with policies making it easier, in any way, for discrimination to continue, the dreams of progress and equality may never come.
