New Jersey Senate Passes Unfair Wage Recovery Act

On March 27, 2014, the New Jersey Senate passed the Unfair Wage Recovery Act (S783), which would amend the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination to provide that an unlawful employment practice occurs each time an individual is affected by application of a discriminatory compensation decision. The act would bring New Jersey in conformity with the federal Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 by restarting the applicable statute of limitations for discriminatory compensation claims under the Law Against Discrimination with each paycheck effectively serving as a new instance of a discriminatory compensation decision. While the law articulates that it would not a) prohibit a court from applying the doctrine of “continuing violation” to any appropriate claim as that doctrine currently exists in New Jersey common law; b) weaken, obstruct, or eliminate any potential equitable application of the “discovery rule” as that doctrine is currently cognizable in New Jersey common law; or c) affect any applicable statutes of limitation, it remains to be seen how those exceptions would apply in practice.