High Court Curbs Pay Bias Suits

The Supreme Court severely limited the right of women to sue employers over pay discrimination in a stormy 5-4 decision yesterday. A lone woman employee at a tire factory sued because she was paid less than male coworkers over her long career; the court held that such charges must be filed within the 180-day window proscribed by the Civil Rights Act.

For the second time in six weeks, Ruth Bader Ginsburg read a dissent from the bench, an unusual practice, excoriating a majority she called out of touch. "The court does not comprehend, or is indifferent to, the insidious way in which women can be victims of pay discrimination," she wrote. Womens' groups lamented the narrow decision as a setback. (More US Supreme Court stories.)