New Jersey Employment Lawyer Blog
Reviewed by Jonathan I. Nirenberg
A federal judge in Newark has allowed a fired New Jersey executive to pursue whistleblower, unpaid bonus, sex discrimination, and family leave claims against her former employer, which she say
s kept its bonus targets artificially high so employees could not earn the pay they had been promised. , decided only a motion to dismiss, so the court treated her allegations as true and made no finding that she has proved them. The opinion is not published.
The opinion recognizes that, under the New Jersey Wage Payment Law (WPL), a bonus that compensates an employee for doing their job can count as wages, whatever the employer calls the payment. Objecting to an employer withholding those wages is a protected activity that can support a retaliation claim. Rabner Baumgart Ben-Asher & Nirenberg, P.C. represents New Jersey employees in whistleblower and retaliation claims, including ones arising from disputes over incentive pay and other wages.
The Facts of Di Benedetto v. The Lockwood Group
Jennifer Di Benedetto worked for 15 years at The Lockwood Group, a healthcare communications company, rising to a senior executive role. Part of her pay came through a leadership incentive plan that granted equity “in lieu of higher base salary and enhanced bonus opportunities.” Ms. Di Benedetto alleges that, after Lockwood hired a new President, Alan Banner, in 2022, women were frozen out of leadership, with only 2 of 12 chief officers being female in a workforce that is roughly 80% women, and that the men received client contact, development opportunities and invitations to board dinners that the women did not.
Ms. Di Benedetto’s individual bonus goal was fixed at 20% of the company’s growth goal. She alleges that Mr. Banner set that goal at $100 million in early 2024, but reported a lower $94 million projection to the board during the next quarter while keeping the $100 million figure for bonuses, and later admitted he kept the targets high to avoid paying bonuses. Ms. Di Benedetto objected about this, and complained about the treatment of women.
Ms. Di Benedetto claims that Lockwood then shifted her responsibilities to male executives, and reassigned her sales team to a newly hired man. While Di Benedetto was on an approved family leave in 2025 to care for her seriously ill father, she says Lockwood ordered her to handle a client call. Lockwood fired her on October 15, 2025, about a year before her equity would have fully vested. She filed a lawsuit in Hudson County before her case was removed to federal court.
How New Jersey Law Treats Bonuses and Whistleblowing
Under the New Jersey Wage Payment Law, wages, are defined as the “direct monetary compensation for labor or services rendered by an employee, where the amount is determined on a time, task, piece, or commission basis,” at N.J.S.A. § 34:11-4.1(c). The same definition excludes “supplementary incentives” that are “calculated independently of regular wages and paid in addition thereto.” Employers often try to use that exclusion to argue that a bonus is not wages under the WPL.
The New Jersey Supreme Court interpreted that exception to the WPL’s definition of wages narrowly in , 260 N.J. 178 (2025), holding that a commission earned for labor or services always is a wage and that receiving a base salary does not turn a commission into a supplementary incentive. The court described true supplementary incentives as pay for something beyond performing a job, such as a bonus for perfect attendance or referring a friend to apply for an open position.
The Conscientious Employee Protection Act (“CEPA”), at N.J.S.A. § 34:19-3, is a broad whistleblower law that protects an employee who objects to or refuses to take part in conduct the employee reasonably believes violates a law, rule, or legal regulation, or is fraudulent. The employee does not have to prove the employer actually violated the law. Separately, the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“LAD”) bars sex discrimination in the terms and conditions of employment at N.J.S.A. § 10:5-12(a).
If your employer changed how a bonus was calculated after you objected to the change, the timing of that change could become important evidence. Call us at (201) 777-2250 while every deadline is still open, and we will go through your options with you.
What the Federal Court Decided
The court denied most of the motion. Ms. Di Benedetto’s claims that survived include the following.
- Whistleblower retaliation under CEPA: The conduct Ms. Di Benedetto described was wage theft, so her objections about it were protected from retaliation.
- Wage Payment Law: The bonuses were wages under Musker because they paid for core job duties, in place of a higher salary.
- Sex discrimination in her treatment on the job: The alleged exclusion from advancement, client contact, and the board was serious enough to allow the sex discrimination claim to proceed.
- Retaliation under the Law Against Discrimination: Di Benedetto’s complaints about unlawful discrimination to senior management, and the retaliation she alleges escalated after she began doing so, along with aiding and abetting claims against the individual executives, is sufficient to support a retaliation claim under the LAD.
- Family leave interference: Approving Ms. Di Benedetto’s family leave, but then requiring her to work during it, could violate the New Jersey Family Leave Act (NJFLA) and the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
With respect to the bonus claim, the court made it clear that setting ambitious goals to earn a bonus is not wage theft. However, what kept the claim alive was the allegation that bonuses were supposed to pegged to the company’s internal goals for growth, but the company had two sets of book that set two different growth goals to avoid paying bonuses.
The court dismissed several claims without prejudice, which means Ms. Di Benedetto can try to assert them again if she can fix the problems that led to them being dismissed. For example, it dismissed her wrongful termination discrimination claim because she did not allege the company sought someone similarly (or less) qualified to replace her. Similarly, it found her harassment claim failed because the company’s alleged preference for men and “boy’s club culture” was not severe or pervasive enough to create a hostile work environment. Likewise, it dismissed her challenge to a nationwide one-year non-compete agreement, finding that claim was not yet ripe because she had not alleged that she had taken any concrete steps toward pursuing a competing job.
What the Ruling Means for New Jersey Employees Owed an Unpaid Bonus
The court’s ruling makes it clear that the label on incentive pay does not determine whether New Jersey law will treat it as wages. What the payment compensates the employee for doing is the question, and a bonus or equity grant provided to an employee in place of a higher salary for doing the job could qualify. Employees who are owed unpaid wages may sue under the WPL. The court also recognized that CEPA can provide a remedy to employees who object to violations of laws, including under the New Jersey Wage Theft Act, which creates its own whistleblower protection through administrative complaints to the New Jersey Department of Labor but not through a private lawsuit.
The ruling also reinforces that employers cannot require employees to work during approved family leave under the FMLA or the NJFLA leave, and that exclusion from job opportunities that could lead to promotions could support a claim of gender discrimination.
Because the Di Benedetto opinion is unpublished, it does not bind any other judge. The full opinion is available on GovInfo, the United States Government Publishing Office’s collection of federal court opinions.
Contact a Bergen County Whistleblower Retaliation Lawyer
An employee who was pushed out or fired after objecting about how bonuses or other wages were calculated could have claims under several statutes, each with its own filing deadline. Rabner Baumgart Ben-Asher & Nirenberg, P.C. represents employees throughout New Jersey in retaliation, wage payment, and discrimination claims. If you would like our help, please call (201) 777-2250 or send us a message to set up a consultation.