President Obama signed the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act this morning. Prior to the passage of the Act, an employee was required to sue within 180 days of the day that an employer decided to pay an employee a smaller wage or salary for a discriminatory reason. The problem with this prior interpretation of the law was that employees are often unaware that their pay is less than similarly situated employees until months or even years later. Often, by the time the affected employees discovered the disparity, the law prohibited them from bringing an action. The Ledbetter Fair Pay Act has changed the law so that it now considers it an actionable discriminatory act every time the employee receives a paycheck that reflects the earlier discriminatory decision. The act was written to protect an employee who has been discriminated on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, and disability. Additionally, the act is given retroactive affect so as to apply to all payments made on or after May 28, 2007 .