A New Jersey appeals court has overturned the dismissal of a wage-and-hour claim filed on behalf of a class of truck drivers in a ruling that narrows the availability of a statutory defense to such claims.

The appeals court reopened a suit against Cream-O-Land Dairy after finding the company was wrongly found entitled to a statutory good-faith defense under the New Jersey Wage and Hour Law. A trial judge found the company was entitled to the good-faith defense based on three determinations made by officials of the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development in response to complaints brought by individual employees.