The New Jersey Supreme Court has yet to decide whether an out-of-state remote worker who worked for a New Jersey-based company is protected by New Jersey’s laws prohibiting workplace discrimination. This is why the New Jersey District Court for the District of New Jersey in Schulman v. Zoetis, Inc., 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 121702 (decided July 14, 2023) was required to predict how the New Jersey Supreme Court rule if faced with this same question. The District Court of New Jersey answered this question in the affirmative concluding that our New Jersey Supreme Court would hold that New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination (LAD) protected out-of-state employees who worked for New Jersey based companies.
Schulman was a New Hampshire resident who worked remotely from home for defendant Zoetis, a company headquartered in New Jersey. She sued Zoetis under, among others, New Jersey’s LAD law claiming she received less than her male counterparts performing same or similar work. Defendant filed a Motion to Dismiss arguing that the LAD did not extend to protect Schulman, a New Hampshire resident, who worked for the company from her home in New Hampshire.
The District began its analysis by acknowledging that our Appellate Division had already held that LAD protected a non-New Jersey resident who worked for a New Jersey employer from workplace discrimination where he was denied a promotion to a position in New Jersey employer’s and then was allegedly wrongfully discharged in violation of the LAD by the same New Jersey employer’s non-New Jersey subsidiary. Calabotta v. Phibro Animal Health Corp., 460 N.J. Super. 38 (App. Div. 2019). The Court in Calabotta reasoned that LAD protects “all persons” — and “[t]he statute’s plain language … does not limit the definition of ‘person’ to New Jersey residents or employees.” Id. at 61. The appellate court further noted that other relevant statutory terms defined in the LAD such as “employer” and “any individual,” did not purport to limit the statute’s coverage to those who work or live in New Jersey. Id. at 61-62.