WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate, with Democrats now in charge, passed an equal pay measure Friday that Republicans blocked last year.
The bill now goes back to the House which had passed a similar bill earlier. It is expected to be passed quickly and likely will be the first legislation to go before President Obama, who supports it.
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, adopted by a 61 to 36 vote, would facilitate judiciary procedures for an employee discriminated against on the basis of age, sex, race, religion or country of origin.
The legislation was named after a woman who worked at a Goodyear tire plant in Gadsden, Ala., and learned after two decades she had been paid at a lower rate than her male co-workers.
Ledbetter sued and won but the U.S. Supreme Court, by one vote, overturned that ruling, finding that such cases must be filed within six months of the first case of discrimination. The new law specifies that each paycheck is a separate case of discrimination.
