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A New Jersey appeals court has reinstated an age and race discrimination suit against Camden County College, finding that the complaint was filed within the two-year statute of limitations.

In a 12-page unpublished opinion issued Jan. 31, a panel of the Appellate Division held that a trial court judge had “misapplied” New Jersey precedent in tossing the case of Sandra Turner-Barnes, the former executive director of the college's Camden County Cultural and Heritage Commission, who argued that her termination had violated the state's anti-discrimination law.

According to court documents, Turner-Barnes received a letter in 2015 notifying her that her position was being eliminated in an effort to reduce costs as funding and enrollment at the school declined, but would continue to receive her full salary through the end of that June.

Turner-Barnes, a black woman who was 67 years old at the time, initially filed a complaint with the New Jersey Division of Civil Rights, refuting the college's explanation and saying that she had been replaced in her role by a “non-Black, non-disabled, less experienced individual.” She later withdrew the DCR filing and filed a pro se complaint in Camden County Superior Court on June 29, 2017, claiming that her termination was the “result of ongoing racial discrimination, age discrimination” and discrimination due to a disability.

The college moved to dismiss the case on the ground that it was filed outside the two-year window for bringing discrimination claims. Law Division Judge Steven J. Polansky agreed, finding that Turner-Barnes' claim accrued on the day she was fired, even though she had remained on the college's payroll through June 30, 2015.

On appeal, Turner-Barnes was represented by LaTonya N. Bland-Tull, a Moorestown-based employment lawyer with Hagerty & Bland-Tull, who argued that under New Jersey Supreme Court precedent in the 2001 case Alderiso v. Medical Center of Ocean County, the clock for the statute of limitations did not start ticking until after her client received her last paycheck.

Camden County College is represented by Hannah M. Girer-Rosenkrantz and Christine P. O'Hearn of Brown & Connery in Westmont.

In its decision, the two-judge panel of the Appellate Division found that Polansky has “misinterpreted” Alderiso, which states that a cause of action accrues on the “last day for which the employee is paid a regular salary or wage.”

“Here, since plaintiff was paid until June 30, 2015, for computation purposes, the first day to be included in the limitations period is the day after the date of discharge, or July 1, 2015. Thus, her June 29, 2017 complaint was timely,” the court said in the per curiam decision.

The case was remanded to Polansky for further proceedings.

Attorneys for both sides didn't return calls seeking comment on the ruling.

The case is captioned Turner-Barnes v. Camden County College.