The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, N.J.S.A. 10:5-1 to -49 (the “LAD”), prohibits discrimination, harassment and retaliation in the workplace based upon a number of protected characteristics, including sex or gender. Discrimination on the basis of pregnancy has long been recognized as a form of “sex” discrimination because only one “sex” can get pregnant – females. However, in 2014, the New Jersey Legislature endeavored to further reinforce the protections afforded to pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers with passage of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (the “PWFA”).

On April 24, 2018, the New Jersey Legislature passed the Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act (the “NJEPA”) to amend the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, N.J.S.A. 10:5-1 to -49 (the “LAD”). The NJEPA renders it “an unlawful employment practice, or, as the case may be, an unlawful discrimination …[f]or an employer to pay any of its employees who is a member of a protected class at a rate of compensation, including benefits, which is less than the rate paid by the employer to employees who are not members of