Discrimination Charges Filed Against Camden County Golf Club

TRENTON, NJ — A gender-based discrimination-based complaint was filed against Pine Valley Golf Club, the state attorney general's office announced Wednesday.

The complaint alleged that Pine Valley Golf Club violated the law against discrimination by prohibiting women from becoming members and restricting women's ability to golf and access club facilities, according to the state attorney general's office.

The complaint also claimed the Pine Valley Golf Club utilized "discriminatory restrictive covenants to prevent women from owning houses on the club’s land unless they co-own a house with a man, and has adopted employment policies that discriminated on the basis of sex and gender," the state attorney general's office alleged.

The complaint also alleged the Pine Valley Golf Club's employed a primarily male workforce, banned men — but not women — from wearing earrings and prohibited employees from discussing their pay, according to the state attorney general's office.

“New Jersey will not tolerate policies or practices that discriminate on the basis of gender, including those that perpetuate the effects of past discrimination,” Rosemary DiSavino, Director of the Attorney General's Office Civil Rights Division said in a press release. “The [law against discrimination] prohibits policies and practices that are intended to, or have the effect of excluding people who identify as women. Failure to provid eequal access to persons of all genders in housing, employment and places of public accommodation has consequences.”

The Borough of Pine Valley merged into the neighboring Borough of Pine Hill around the beginning of 2022, the press release stated. Prior to that, "the club owned all
land in the Borough of Pine Valley, effectively controlled its operations, and was the primary recipient of services and benefits provided by its government, the press release continued.

The Pine Valley Golf Club contended that all restrictions on membership and facility use based on sex or gender were eliminated by the spring of 2021, which was after the state attorney general's office began its investigation, according to the press release.

The Pine Valley Golf Club's owners could not be immediately reached for comment.

Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.