Statistics show that in New Jersey, women are paid 82 cents for every dollar paid to men, amounting to an annual wage gap of $11,089. The wage gap is even larger for women of color. Indeed, for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men, black women are paid 58 cents, Latinas are paid 43 cents, and Asian women are paid 87 cents. On average, New Jersey women who are employed full-time lose a combined total of more than $32.5 billion every year due to the gender wage gap. “New Jersey Women and the Wage Gap,” Fact Sheet, National Partnership for Women and Families, April 2017.

To rectify the gender wage gap as well as other pay disparities, the New Jersey legislature recently passed the Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act (the Act), N.J.S.A. 34:11-56.13, an amendment to the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD), N.J.S.A. 10:5-1, et seq. Governor Phil Murphy signed the Act into law on April 24. The Act—which applies to all employers in New Jersey, regardless of size—has been both hailed and criticized as the broadest pay equity law in the nation. The Act became effective on July 1, just over two months after the governor signed the law, giving New Jersey employers little time to analyze its impact or undertake remedial action to ensure compliance. In sharp contrast, Massachusetts’ Equal Pay Act, M.G.L.A. 149 §105A, also became effective on July 1—but was signed into law nearly two years ago, on August 1, 2016.

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