New Jersey Enacts Equal Pay Law

New Jersey’s Equal Pay Act, which goes into effect on July 1, 2018, amends the state’s Law Against Discrimination (LAD).

We are eagerly anticipating the release of a workplace notice for the Act, and our customers will be notified as soon as the notice is available from the state. For now, here are some details of the new law.

Provisions of the Equal Pay Act

New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination already prohibits wage discrimination against employees based on gender. The new Equal Pay Act expands this prohibition, as outlined below.

Under the Act, employers are prohibited from:

• Providing unfair wages and benefits to employees based on all the protected classes in the LAD, such as gender, race, national origin, age, pregnancy, and sexual orientation—with some exceptions
• Retaliating against employees for disclosing information about their salary history or present wages and benefits to current or former employees
• Requiring employees or applicants, as a condition of employment, to sign a waiver stating that they will not make compensation requests or disclosures
• Screening a job applicant based on the individual’s wage/salary history, or determining a wage amount for the applicant based on this history
• Inquiring, in writing or otherwise, about a job applicant’s salary history, including compensation and benefits—unless the applicant authorizes the inquiry in writing

Employers may pay different rates of compensation, including both wages and benefits, for similar work to employees in different protected classes only if this compensation is based on bonafide factors such as an employee’s training, education, and work experience. These factors must be related to the job in question and based on legitimate business necessity.

Future Update for New Jersey

Yes, it’s true, another New Jersey labor law with a posting requirement will go into effect on October 29, 2018. The Earned Sick and Safe Leave (ESSL) law require employers to provide their employees with 1 hour of paid leave for every 30 worked. Among other reasons, leave may be used for the employee’s own or a family member’s care for a physical or mental illness, or for an issue related to domestic or sexual violence.

Over the next few months, we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for the new ESSL notice.

We Make Compliance Easy

There have been four labor law changes for the State of New Jersey in 2018, with two more on the way. Based on these changes, we encourage you to order our 1-Year Compliance Plan so that you will automatically receive the updated New Jersey poster as soon as it is available. And because we provide free poster updates for mandatory changes, no matter how many occur during the 12-month period, you can always count on Poster Compliance Center to keep you in compliance.