President Obama on January 29,2009 signed into law the Lilly Ledbetter Bill and made remarks that included “…..it’s bad for business to pay somebody less because of their gender or their age or their race or their ethnicity, religion or disability; and that justice isn’t about some abstract legal theory, or footnote in a casebook. It’s about how our laws affect the daily lives and the daily realities of people: their ability to make a living and care for their families and achieve their goal.”
I don’t know a lot about this bill, I don’t know Lilly Ledbetter, and I don’t know why this legislation was passed, but I still have some thoughts I’d like to share.
All people working for the same person, doing the same job – same duties, same shifts, etc. – should be paid the same hourly wage.
I believe that for the most part, that is done. Everyone knows that two people don’t do anything identically, including their jobs. The person who does his job well and to the best of his ability is of greater value to the company than is a less dedicated employee, and I believe that most “discrimination” results from raises given to some, bonuses given to some, and some not receiving either . If that is the case, and discrimination raises its ugly head, the issue should get a really good inspection, and if it is found that the worker getting more was a more valuable employee, I think it should be the company’s decision to reward the more valuable employee without fear of any reprisal whatsoever. Was this bill truly the result of widespread discrimination against women, or was it a feel-good piece of legislation for the government to be able to toot its own horn at the expense of private businesses?
Let’s address the handicapped and employment. There are some jobs certain handicaps preclude their victims from doing, and this is not the fault of the business. If a handicapped person can handle the job as well as the next person without causing extra cost or stress in the workplace, he should be hired, if the employer wants him, at full pay, whatever it may be. There is no justification for paying less. If the employee sees he cannot adequately do the job, he should approach the business manager and ask about being placed somewhere else, and if not, he probably should resign and look for work he in fact can do. If the owner learns after hiring the handicapped person that he is not capable of doing the job, he is, in my opinion, well within his rights to fire the person or demote him as he didn’t live up to the agreement made at the time of hiring.
Let it be known I am NOT an employer, nor am I an employee. I feel that employers have for many years been treated terribly bad by their own government. Their government bows to unions in order to get votes while stabbing employers in the back. In addition to that , in order to get the minority vote, the handicapped vote, the women’s vote, the poor vote, our dear politicians have enacted some of the most convoluted self-serving “laws” imaginable hence, everything has become so politically incorrect that an employer probably has to carry a check list with him at all times to not offend this employee, that employee, etc.
We have had bad governments before, several times, but the one that exists today cannot be beaten when it comes to sleaze, pork, theft of public funds, irresponsible legislation that defies the US Constitution, and that ridicules and chastises the citizens of this country for expressing their views.
Let me close by just saying that I will be forever grateful that I am not an employer, not an entrepreneur, not in big business. Not because they are not noble, but because their government has incited so much hatred directed at them for no purpose other than to get a dirty, bloody vote that were I they, I’d do an Ayn Rand on them.
