Unfair Pay Discrimination in New Jersey

One bill would require public contractors to report salary and wage information by gender, race and job title to the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, in order to monitor compliance with existing anti-discrimination laws.

The second would align state law with the Federal government’s Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.

The Ledbetter Act, which was the first bill signed into law by President Obama, was named after a Goodyear production supervisor who sued the company over discriminatory pay practices. Her case got as far as the United States Supreme Court.

They ruled that, since the initial discriminatory actions by the company took place prior to the 180 day statute of limitations for filing such a complaint, she had no case. The Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was drafted to address this legal loophole.

The New Jersey Unfair Wage Recovery Act (s-783), like the Ledbetter Act, effectively re-boots the statute of limitations which each new instance of discrimination. Therefore, every time a discriminatory paycheck is given to en employee, they have fresh cause to pursue legal remedies for the discrimination.

This protects employees who, under prior law, could do nothing to address discriminatory pay if their employers are able to successfully hide their discriminatory actions for a suitable length of time.

The bills’ main sponsor, Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt (D-Camden) believes that a two year cap is unreasonable, since instances of such discrimination often go back many years. Lampitt, who has cited 2009 U.S. Census Bureau data indicating that women still earn roughly 77 cents to every dollar their male counterparts make, has said that she will keep putting the law forward until it is adopted.

Pay discrimination based on sex was prohibited under the Equal Pay Act of 1963.

This act required employers to pay men and women equally for jobs requiring the same skills, effort, and responsibility, unless the pay was affected by seniority, merit assessments, a system that measures quality or quantity of production, or a differential based on any factor other than sex.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 further prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

The Law Office of Lynda Hinkle is in favor of pay equality. If you agree, and feel this legislation deserves to be the law in

New Jersey, you should contact Governor Christie and make your feelings known.

While we don’t handle employment law cases, we are happy to discuss your legal matter in our areas of practice. Feel

free to call our office at 856-227-7888, or contact us at hinklelaw@lyndahinkle.com for a free consultation.