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Obama signs the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act as his first enrolled statute

On 29 January 2009 President Barack Obama signed S. 181, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, as Public Law 111-2, resetting the EEOC charge clock for pay discrimination. In the causal graph this event weakens the driver Income Inequality.

Obama signs the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act as his first enrolled statute

Sources: [1][2]

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On 29 January 2009 President Barack Obama signed S. 181, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, as Public Law 111-2, resetting the EEOC charge clock for pay discrimination.

Context

The Supreme Court’s Ledbetter v. Goodyear sat as parent. Neighbouring ARRA is a different date. He did not sit as every employer payroll clerk. Congress wrote and passed the bill.

ARRA 17 February 2009 is a neighbouring statute. Fair Sentencing 2010 is a later rights file.

A United States president proposes, signs, vetoes, and directs the executive. Congress enacts statutes. The Federal Reserve, states, courts, and later presidents share later series. Office-holding is not authorship of every later outcome. Allegation is not a completed judgment. Legislative achievements require shared congressional attribution. He does not set the federal funds rate, write a state Medicaid waiver by himself, or convert a 2009 oath into a unique 2016 uninsured coefficient. A signature is not unique authorship of a House and Senate text. A troop order is not authorship of every later round. He is not president as of 27 August 2026. Donald Trump is president from 20 January 2025. Joe Biden was president 2021–2025.

Why it matters

The path is protection of minority rights and income inequality: a completed charge-clock statute, remaining later wage-gap series named.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Barack Obama

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.55 · verified

    He signed. Congress enacted. EEOC and employers implement.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

    1. FactObama signs the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act as his first enrolled statute
    2. weakensDriverIncome Inequality

    impact weight 0.35 · Effect from 29 January 2009 · verified

    Resetting the charge clock can restore expected pay remedies, with lag.

    1. FactObama signs the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act as his first enrolled statute
    2. strengthensDriverProtection of Minority Rights
    3. strengthensIndicators (2)Having a say in government
    Improving path

    impact weight 0.55 · Effect from 29 January 2009 · verified

    A completed pay-discrimination charge-clock statute is a dated equal-pay instrument.

    • Having a say in government

      via Protection of Minority Rights

      Better

      Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.25 (weight 0.55 × strength 0.45)

      Observed

      29.8% of population aged 16-65 years · 8.13 below the normal line (2023)

      Worse than normal

      Two readings: 30.2% of population aged 16-65 years (2021) and 29.8% of population aged 16-65 years (2023).

      20212023

      Above normal = better

    • Rule of Law Gap from the Highest Governance Score

      via Protection of Minority Rights

      Better

      Weakens · Relationship strength 0.25 (weight 0.55 × strength 0.45)

      Observed

      43.9 Score · 43.9 above the normal line (2024)

      Worse than normal

      26 readings, 1996–2024: rose from 43 Score to 43.9 Score.

      Normal is zero · any amount = worse

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.Reuters — Obama signs equal-pay bill as first lawReuters · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.White House archives — 29 January 2009 Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act signing remarksWhite House (archives) · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

White House (archives) carries the official instrument or communique. Reuters records the same dated act independently.

Established: 29 January 2009 signature of Public Law 111-2, independently reported.

Not established: a unique later gender-wage coefficient from that Thursday, or that every employer uniquely equalised pay that week.

Congress enacted. EEOC and employers implement.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Obama signs the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act as his first enrolled statute, not a later speech about Obama signs the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act as his first enrolled statute.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to He signed. Congress enacted. EEOC and employers implement. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorBarack Obama
  2. contributed toFactObama signs the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act as his first enrolled statute
  3. weakensDrivers (2)Income Inequality

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). Obama signs the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act as his first enrolled statute. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/us-obama-lilly-2009

https://factrail.ai/facts/us-obama-lilly-2009

Accessed 15 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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