This Law Firm Publication by Ford & Harrison LLP discusses a New Jersey Supreme Court opinion issued on February 11, 2015 holding that employers can rely on the federal Faragher/Ellerth affirmative defense to defend against sexual harassment claims brought under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD). In Aquas v. State of New Jersey, which involved a female corrections officer’s allegations that she was sexually harassed by two officers, the New Jersey Supreme Court held that in claims of negligence/recklessness or vicarious liability for supervisory harassment, an employer’s anti-harassment policy can be held up by the employer as an affirmative defense. Since the US Supreme Court first formulated the Faragher/Ellerth defense, New Jersey’s highest court had not determined whether the defense was valid in defending against NJLAD claims. Now employers are on firmer ground in defending such claims by establishing through a preponderance of evidence that they exercised reasonable care to prevent sexual harassment, and that the employee failed to make use of the avenues afforded by the employer for preventing and correcting harassment (typically a written anti-harassment policy distributed to all employees). Separately, the Aquas decision put forth a broader definition of “supervisor” in the context of NJLAD hostile work environment claims. Now a supervisor includes employees with tangible decision-making authority and employees who are in charge of a complaining employee’s daily workplace activities.