wage discrimination

The New Jersey Division of Civil Rights has published its guidelines concerning the administration of the New Jersey Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act. The New Jersey Equal Pay Act, first enacted into law in 2018, makes it unlawful for employers to engage in discriminatory compensation practices and retaliate against employees for complaining about workplace wage related issues. The guidelines issued by the New Jersey Division of Civil Rights will assist employers, employees, lawyers and judges on how to interpret the equal pay law in situations involving workplace wage discrimination and wage disparity.

The New Jersey Equal Pay Act prohibits employers from paying employees who are members of a protected class less than their counterparts who perform substantially similar work and are not in a protected class. Unlike many other state equal pay laws, protected classes under the New Jersey equal pay statute are not limited to gender and instead include all other protected classes under the Law Against Discrimination such as age, sexual orientation, race, disability, national origin and others.

The New Jersey Equal Pay Act amended the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination to provide for significant penalties to employers who violate the law. In addition to an award of back pay for up to six (6) years from the date of the last unlawful pay occurrence, the law allows an employee to recover an additional amount equal to three (3) years of the awarded back pay monetary amount as treble damages.

A new bill was signed into New Jersey law on July 25, 2019, that furthers a statewide effort to reduce inequality in pay for New Jersey employees. Because Governor Murphy is out of the state on vacation, Lieutenant Governor Sheila Y. Oliver signed Assembly Bill 1094 into law yesterday after it was passed in the New Jersey Assembly on March 25, 2019 and the Senate on June 20, 2019. The new law will prohibit employers from asking or requiring job applicants to disclose their salary history during the application process. The new law is intended to address continued pay inequality and gender discrimination that has long existed in the employment environment.

The newly enacted law prohibits employers from screening applicants based on their salary history, including prior benefits. Employers may not utilize any minimum or maximum criteria in relation to salary history to disqualify potential candidates, requiring that the application process be predicated entirely on experience and capabilities as opposed to prior salary and other irrelevant factors. Employers may only request the salary history of their applicants after they have provided them with an offer of employment that includes a compensation package. While employers may utilize an applicant’s prior salary in their compensation determinations if that information is volunteered by the applicant without coercion, an applicant’s denial to provide such information cannot be considered as a factor in any employment decisions.

The bill amends the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, which prohibits discrimination, harassment and retaliation based on protected characteristics in employment. Specifically, it amends the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination by adding the following language:

Articles Tagged with wage discrimination

Division of Civil Rights Publishes New Jersey Equal Pay Act Guidelines

New Jersey Passes Law Prohibiting Employers From Requiring Salary Disclosures of Job Applicants