Employees who sue the State of New Jersey or its agencies in U.S. District Court frequently include within their complaints supplemental state statutory claims. In the recently published case of Maliandi v. Montclair State, 845 F.3d 77 (3d Cir. 2016), the Third Circuit Court of Appeals concluded its opinion with dicta in which it declined to address whether New Jersey has waived its Eleventh Amendment immunity from suit in federal court for claims under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD). The weight of current federal authority suggests that the State of New Jersey has not waived its sovereign immunity from suit in federal court for NJLAD claims.
In Maliandi, a former employee of Montclair State University (MSU) filed suit against MSU for wrongful termination, seeking relief under the Family Medical Leave Act and NJLAD. In a lengthy analysis the Third Circuit found that MSU is an arm of the State of New Jersey, rendering it immune from Maliandi’s FMLA claim in federal court pursuant to the Eleventh Amendment. It remanded the NJLAD claim to the district court for a determination of whether the State has waived sovereign immunity for claims under the NJLAD.
