A federal judge has turned back an effort to establish retroactive application of a young state statute aimed at stamping out gender pay disparity in the workplace.

In Perrotto v. Morgan Advanced Materials, U.S. District Judge William Martini of the District of New Jersey dismissed two counts lodged under the Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act. Signed into law last spring and effective last July 1, the law, which amended the state Law Against Discrimination, prohibits unequal pay for “substantially similar” work, imposes a six-year statute of limitations on violations, and imposes treble damages, among other elements.