If enacted, the act would reverse a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision dismissing a suit by Lilly Ledbetter, an employee for 19 years at a tire plant in Gadsden, Ala., who says she was paid less than her male counterparts.

The U.S. Supreme Court said she did not file her lawsuit against Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. within 180 days after the discrimination occurred, as required by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The court let the company off the hook by calculating the deadline from the day Goodyear made its original decision to pay her less than her male colleagues. The law had made it clear previously that the clock did not start until she received her last discriminatory paycheck. The bill would remove the 180-day limit.

H.R. 2831 is an important legislative “fix” to this decision, which severely limited the ability of victims of pay discrimination to sue and recover damages under the Civil Rights Act.