Even With Robust State LGBTQ Anti-Discrimination Laws, Landmark Supreme Court Ruling Will Be Felt in New Jersey

“As LGBTQ rights advocates celebrated Monday’s landmark ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, making it a violation of Title VII to fire someone for being gay or transgender, some in New Jersey might have wondered about the decision’s local impact.”

The article later stated, “In addition, the ruling makes federal court litigation of discrimination claims related to sexual orientation or gender expression a more viable option, said Thomas Prol, a Sills Cummis & Gross attorney who has analyzed the Bostock case in his class on law and sexuality at Seton Hall University School of Law. After Monday’s ruling, a litigant in federal court can cite the court’s decision, rather than merely rely on Equal Employment Opportunity Commission opinions, which are generally supportive to gays and lesbians but are subject to shifting political influences, Prol said.

“Having similar positions from state and federal laws on discrimination against LGBTQ people makes for a case that is ‘more sturdy,’ without the ‘hybrid analysis’ in which state laws find discrimination where federal law does not, Prol said.

“’For New Jersey, it just harmonizes federal and state law in many respects. New Jersey has been so prescient on this that the federal courts will look to our analysis with favor,’ Prol said.”