New Jersey Employment Lawyer Blog

Employment Lawyers representing plaintiffs were dealt a set back by New Jersey's Appellate Division this week when the Court took a rare turn away from its usual liberal stance on discrimination cases. The New Jersey Appellate Division recently held that there is no cause of action under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination for discrimination in pay and compensation benefits when the discrimination is based on decisions that occurred outside the LAD two-year statute of limitations. The Court stated that the fact that the impact of the discriminatory decision-making continued the pay disparity into the two-year period before the complaint was filed is not relevant. The New Jersey Appellate Division followed the principles and guidance of the federal Title VII jurisprudence, and the United States Supreme Court's decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., notwithstanding Congress' subsequent adoption of the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. The Appellate Division stated that the Legislature, not the court, must amend the LAD to achieve the result Congress adopted.