A federal judge in New Jersey appears to be the first in the nation to apply the newly enacted Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to a pending case.

Acting on his own motion, U.S. District Judge Jerome Simandle applied the law retroactively to allow plaintiff Janice Gilmore, to pursue claims for back pay for discrimination taking place as early as July 7, 2003, two years before she filed her gender-bias complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on July 7, 2005.