Goodyear would like to provide additional information regarding the Supreme Court’s decision in Ledbetter v Goodyear. This is simply a fact sheet and is not intended to debate the current 180/300-day limitation for filing a charge of discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

Key Points:

• Goodyear has a long-standing policy prohibiting discrimination in employment and pay. In support of its policy against discrimination in pay, Goodyear presented evidence that its male and female managers, in like circumstances, received comparable pay increases.
• For example, Ms. Ledbetter was placed on two extended layoffs and, like male employees who also were laid off, was not eligible for pay increases. When Ms. Ledbetter was eligible for pay increases, she was treated the same way as male employees whose performance ratings were similar to her ratings. Those male employees and Ms. Ledbetter received comparable increases in those years.
• Like most companies, pay increases at Goodyear are based on performance. In fact, there was a judicial finding of no discrimination with respect to the merit increases Ms. Ledbetter received in the years just before she took an early retirement.
• Ms. Ledbetter testified that she first thought her pay was out of line in the early 1990s. Instead of reporting her concern then, she waited until 1998, after she retired, and then pursued a lawsuit. Goodyear encourages associates to report concerns as soon as possible so they can be fairly reviewed and remedied, if necessary.
• Ms. Ledbetter based her claim of sex discrimination in large part on alleged comments made to her as long as 20 years earlier by a male co-worker. By the time that Ms. Ledbetter filed her claim, that male employee had died. Claims filed promptly are in the best interest of both the employee and employer.
• Goodyear policy does not prohibit employees from talking about their salaries. In fact, Ms. Ledbetter never claimed that she lacked the knowledge about people’s pay in order to file her discrimination claim earlier than she did.

For further information, please contact Scott Baughman, Manager of Public Affairs, at (330) 796-1136.

August 21, 2008