Paula Alexander , et. al. v. Seton Hall University (A-87-09)

Paula Alexander , et. al. v. Seton Hall University (A-87-09) 11/23/2010

The payment of unequal wages on the discriminatory basis of age or sex is proscribed by New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination (LAD), and each payment of such discriminatory wages constitutes an actionable wrong that is remediable under the LAD. The two-year statute of limitations applies to such violations by merely cutting off the untimely portion of such claims, thereby limiting the damages recoverable for past discriminatory compensation. As a result, plaintiffs’ complaint was timely in respect of the allegedly discriminatory wages they received during the two years immediately prior to the filing of their complaint.

PAULA ALEXANDER, JOAN COLL, and CHERYL THOMPSON-SARD v. SETON HALL UNIVERSITY, JOHN J. MYERS, ROBERT SHEERAN, PAULA BULEY, KAREN E. BOROFF an

PAULA ALEXANDER, JOAN COLL, and CHERYL THOMPSON-SARD
v. SETON HALL UNIVERSITY, JOHN J. MYERS, ROBERT
SHEERAN, PAULA BULEY, KAREN E. BOROFF and JOSEPH
DEPIERRO
A-1251-08T3 12-07-09

There is no cause of action under the New Jersey Law
Against Discrimination (LAD) for discrimination in pay and
compensation benefits when the discrimination is based on
decisions ("discrete acts") which occurred outside the LAD two-
year statute of limitations. The fact the impact of the
discriminatory decision-making continued the pay disparity into
the two-year period before the complaint was filed is not
relevant. Using the guidance of the federal Title VII
jurisprudence, we follow the United States Supreme Court's
decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 550 U.S.
618, 127 S. Ct. 2162, 167 L. Ed. 2d 982 (2007), despite
Congress' subsequent adoption of the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
of 2009. The Legislature, not this court, must amend LAD to
achieve the result Congress adopted.