He signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to combat gender based wage discrimination

Lilly Ledbetter worked as a supervisor at an Alabama Goodyear tire facility. After learning that she was paid significantly less than two male managers in equivalent jobs, she filed an equal pay case against the company. Her appeal was dismissed by the Supreme Court because the wage discrimination had happened 180 days prior. Activist groups, on the other hand, took up Ledbetter's cause and opposed the court's ruling, calling it a setback for women and civil rights.

President Barack Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law on January 29, 2009, under which discrimination based on age, religion, national origin, ethnicity, sex, and disability will "accrue" every time an employee receives a discriminatory paycheck. As a result, the 180-day statute of limitations for launching a wage discrimination claim resets with each new paycheck. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act strengthened worker safeguards against pay discrimination and is seen as a critical step toward closing the wage gap between men and women in the United States.