Plaintiff Sherri A. Affrunti filed a Law Division complaint seeking compensation claims against her former employer, defendant Reed Smith, LLP, under provisions of the Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act (Allen Act or statute), L. 2018, c. 9 (codified as amended in various sections of N.J.S.A.), the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD), N.J.S.A. 10:5-1 to -50, and the New Jersey Wage Payment Act (WPA), N.J.S.A. 34:11-4.1 to -4.14. On leave to appeal, Affrunti raises issues of first impression under the Allen Act arising from the motion court's omnibus order.
The first issue concerns the scope of damages resulting from the Allen Act's expansion of the lookback period for claims under the LAD and WPA from two years to six years. The motion court, citing the two-part test to determine whether a statute is applied retroactively or prospectively set forth in our Supreme Court's recent decision in Maia v. IEW Constr. Grp., 257 N.J. 330 (2024), applied the statute prospectively; thus, its order limited Affrunti's damages to the period from July 1, 2018 (the Allen Act's effective date) to January 11, 2019 (the date her employment ended with Reed Smith).
The court agrees with the motion court that, based on Maia, the Allen Act should be applied prospectively. The court nonetheless concludes the court incorrectly applied this prospective approach in its order. The Allen Act's six-year lookback period applies to claims arising after its effective date but does not eliminate the prior two-year lookback period under the LAD and WPA that existed prior to the statute. Applying the LAD's two-year lookback period, Affrunti should be allowed to pursue damages from December 18, 2020 (the date she filed her complaint) to December 18, 2018––not July 1, 2018 to January 11, 2019, as the motion court held. The court does not review claims of continuing violations occurring prior to December 18, 2018.
The second issue on appeal is whether the discovery of comparator employee compensation data authorized under the Allen Act should be limited to July 1, 2018 through January 11, 2019 due to the motion court's prospective application of the statute. The court concludes the motion court erred in limiting discovery to this time period. The court determines that the discovery period should be from December 18, 2018 to December 18, 2020, corresponding to the two-year lookback period. Any expansion of the period based on continuing violations is not reviewed in this appeal.
The third issue on appeal is whether the Allen Act's provision that "[c]omparison of wage rates shall be based on wage rates in all of an employer's operations or facilities" should be interpreted to apply to all of an employer’s operations, whether in-state or nationwide. The court concludes the motion court erred in limiting comparator employee compensation data to Reed Smith's New Jersey office. The Allen Act's text, legislative history, and relevant agency interpretations support broad discovery of the comparator employee compensation data provision, thus permitting Affrunti to obtain Reed Smith's national comparator data.
The fourth issue on appeal is whether the discovery of comparator employee compensation data should cover January 1, 2006 (the approximate date Reed Smith promoted Affrunti to Non-Equity/Fixed Shared Partner (FSP)) to January 11, 2019. The court concludes the motion court erred in restricting discovery to July 1, 2018 through January 11, 2019. Affrunti is entitled to discovery from January 1, 2006 to January 11, 2019, as she is permitted broad discovery of national comparator employee compensation data.