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2009 was the year that the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was signed into law by President Barack Obama. The Supreme Court in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire rejected a woman’s pay discrimination claim on the grounds that the woman had not filed the complaint within the statutory 180-day deadline. Congress took up the issue and amended the Civil Rights Act to correct the injustice.

It reminded me of my years working in a big design firm that paid us mostly women very low hourly wages. But I didn’t know what to do about it. I knew my hourly rate was low because I could read what the industry standard was and mine was less than half. At the annual review I asked for a little bit more, but it was still low and other people were getting laid off. What I couldn’t confront was the confidentiality of pay rates because I didn’t know what the law was. And I was intimidated by the fear that any discussion of pay rates was grounds for firing.

I was ignorant. Since 1935 employees have had the right to discuss pay rates and cannot be fired for doing so. Having already been an employer for many years, I bought the line that open discussion of pay rates would bring on jealousy, complaints, and disgruntlement, problems employers have even without airing pay scales! So I said nothing.

What also became clear by doing job reports was that my employer’s business model depended on low wages. And most of his employees just happened to be women. And most of his management was male. The low payroll expenses made up for sloppy management and job overruns. Since I created the reports, my employer eventually decided I wasn’t a team player and got rid of me anyway.

The beauty of the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is that it reaffirmed equal pay and allowed the 180-day window for filing a pay discrimination complaint to begin with every paycheck. The legislation is credited to our Ruth Bader Ginsburg who as a Justice wrote the Supreme Court dissent so clearly and pointedly that Congress took up her suggestions and wrote the corrective law two years later. Think about that as we head into a 6-3 Supreme Court. Show ain’t over when the skinny lady sings.

And think again about the sanctity of pay scale confidentiality. Fairness and transparency are employer ethics that employees value. Most of us prefer to work for someone who isn’t trying to exploit the client or the employees. Most of us prefer to work with pride in our work; it’s a huge reason why we work.

I wish I had been better informed back then. I wish I had challenged the prevailing assumption. I wish I had questioned my own assumption. After all, if I was going to be exited anyway, it would have felt better if everyone had gotten better pay.