"Linda Basch and Elizabeth L. Grayer decried the decision in a June 23 joint column in the  Star Ledger and reminded readers of how many other underpaid women in the United States were, broadly speaking, represented by this suit.

'Women are still paid 77 cents to every dollar a man earns," they wrote. "And the cost of pay discrimination to women and their families has been estimated to average $500,000 over a lifetime, and as much as $2 million or more for professional women."'