New Jersey Pay Equity

Race, creed, color, national origin, nationality, ancestry, age, marital status, civil union status, domestic partnership status, affectional or sexual orientation, genetic information, pregnancy or breastfeeding, sex, gender identity or expression, disability or atypical hereditary cellular or blood trait of any individual, liability for service in the armed forces, or nationality

“No employer shall discriminate in any way in the rate or method of payment of wages to any employee because of his or her sex.”
“It shall be an unlawful employment practice, or, as the case may be, an unlawful discrimination . . . [f]or an employer, because of the race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, civil union status, domestic partnership status, affectional or sexual orientation, genetic information, pregnancy or breastfeeding, sex, gender identity or expression, disability or atypical hereditary cellular or blood trait or any individual, or because of the liability for service in the Armed Forces of the United States or the nationality of any individual, or because of the refusal to submit to a genetic test or make available the results of a genetic test to an employer, to refuse to hire or employ or to bar or to discharge or require to retire, unless justified by lawful considerations other than age, from employment to such individual or to discriminate against such individual in compensation or in terms, conditions or privileges of employment[.]”
Unlawful employment practice "[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 the protected class for substantially similar work, when viewed as a composite of skill, effort and responsibility."

Seniority system
Merit system
Differential based on one or more legitimate, bona fide factors other than the characteristics of members of the protected class (like training, education, experience, or the quantity or quality of production); the factor(s) are not based on, and do not perpetuate a differential in compensation based on sex or any other characteristic of a protected class; each of the factors is applied reasonably; one or more factors account for the entire wage differential; and the factors are job-related with respect to the position in question and based on a legitimate business necessity, where there is no alternative business practice that would serve the same business purpose without producing the wage differential

Public employers are prohibited from inquiring about an applicant's current or previous salary history, unless and until the public employer has made a conditional offer of employment, including an explanation of the overall compensation package to the applicant.
All employers are prohibited from screening applicants based on the applicant’s salary history, including the applicant’s prior wages, salaries or benefits, and requiring the applicant’s salary history satisfy any minimum or maximum criteria. An employer may not consider an applicant’s refusal to volunteer information in any employment decisions.
An employer may consider salary history in determining salary, benefits and other compensation for the applicant, and may verify the applicant’s salary history, if an applicant voluntarily provides the employer with their salary history.
An employer may ask an applicant to provide it with written authorization to confirm the applicant’s salary history after an offer of employment that includes an explanation of the overall compensation package has been made.
The law does not apply to applications for internal transfer or promotion or an employer’s use of previous knowledge obtained because of prior employment with the employer.

Employers shall not discriminate against or discharge an employee for exercising her rights under this law.
Employers cannot “take reprisals against any employee for requesting from, discussing with, or disclosing to, any other employee or former employee of the employer, a lawyer from whom the employee seeks legal advice, or any government agency information regarding the . . . rate of compensation[.]”

For employers with a principal place of business in Jersey City and 5+ employees, any job posting circulating within the city must include a wage range.
New Jersey employers with 10 or more employees over 20 calendar weeks that do business, employ workers, or take applications for employment in the state must comply with certain wage disclosure requirements for both promotional opportunities and employment listings.
Employers with 10 or more employees must disclose the hourly wage or salary range and a general description of benefits and other compensation programs for which the employee would be eligible. This will need to be disclosed for each posting for a new job as well as transfer opportunities that are advertised externally or internally.
For promotional opportunities, employers are required to make reasonable efforts to announce or post the opportunities to all current employees in the affected department prior to making a promotion decision, unless the decision is based on years of experience or performance.

Employers cannot take reprisals against an employee for requesting from, discussing with, or disclosing to another employee or former employee, a lawyer from whom the employee seeks legal advice, or any government agency, information related to employee compensation.
Cannot require that an employee sign a waiver or agree not to make requests or disclosures concerning employee compensation as a condition of employment.

Penalties for non-compliance of Senate Bill 2310 include: $300 for the first violation and $600 for each subsequent violation.

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