Sponsored Post- Does My Employer Have to Consider My Accommodation or My Disability In New Jersey?
Indeed, your employer must provide a reasonable accommodation for your disability. Federal legislation or rules apply to the entire nation, and New Jersey laws are the two sets of legislation that mandate the companies to provide workers with reasonable accommodations for their disabilities.
What are The Conditions for the Employers?
Employers in New Jersey who have 15 or more employees must comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
Hence, employers need to make a reasonable effort to accommodate the known physical or mental disabilities of any qualified employee or applicant, who is disabled.
These rules comply unless employers can show that doing so would place an unreasonable hardship on their business.
Before termination, demotion, or rejection of recruitment of a disabled employee, because of their disability interfering in their work performance, employers must consider the potential of making a reasonable accommodation.
Elements in Assessment of a Reasonable Accommodation
In Garden State, the following elements are considered while assessing the reasonability of an accommodation and its role in an employer’s ability to conduct business.
- The degree to which accommodation would be, involves waiver of an essential prerequisite of a job as opposed to a non-business requirement.
- The overall scale of the employer’s business in terms of the quantity and kind of facilities, number of employees, and budget.
- The cost and nature of accommodation needed, consider the availability of tax credits and deductions and outside funding.
- The type of operations that employers perform, covering the structure and composition of the existing workforce.
In New Jersey, reasonable accommodations include things like:
- making employee-used facilities easily accessible and useable by people with disabilities;
- restructuring jobs; or taking similar actions, or leaves of absence or modified work schedules for employees;
- Modification of devices or acquisition of equipment;
- Reassignment of jobs.
What are Employer’s Obligations to Participate in an Interactive Process?
When an employee in New Jersey requests an accommodation, an interactive process starts. The employer needs to start an informal interactive approach with the employee to find a suitable accommodation once the employee officially requests assistance for his disability.
What Qualifies as A “Disability”?
The law that forbids discrimination in employment, covering disability discrimination, is known as the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD). Disabilities are categorised by the NJLAD as either physical or non-physical.
Any physical or sensory impairment, malformation, disfigurement, or infirmity, brought on by a disease, birth defect, or physical injury-including epilepsy and other seizure disorders-is classified as a physical handicap under the NJLAD.
Physical disabilities encompass a wide range of conditions, such as paralysis, impaired mobility, amputation, blindness, visual impairment, hearing loss, speech impairment, muteness, and physical dependence on a wheelchair, service dog, or other remedial technology or device.
Any psychological, developmental disability, or mental disorder like an autism spectrum, that arises:
- Either (a) prevents the typical exercise of any mental or bodily functions, or
- (b) is demonstrable, psychologically, or medically, by accepted clinical or laboratory diagnostic techniques and is considered non-physically disabled in the state of New Jersey.
The NJLAD interprets “disability” widely, not just in terms of severe or permanent impairments. However, the condition is not always a “disability” for clinical research purposes or medical treatment.
What Are Examples of Disabilities as per NJLAD?
According to NJLAD, HIV, AIDS, and Alcoholism, are impairments. Furthermore, for New Jersey employment law, diabetes, myocardial infarction, obesity, following a heart attack, or spinal surgery, affecting physical abilities, and multiple sclerosis are all considered impairments. However, using drugs illegally is not considered a protected disability.
Which Situations Exempt New Jersey From the Requirement of Reasonable Accommodation?
When a person’s disability prevents them from performing the duties of a certain employment, they may be discriminated against under the NJLAD.
When it can be reasonably ascertained that a candidate or employee is unable to perform the essential duties of the position due to their disability and despite a reasonable accommodation, New Jersey Law remains satisfied.
When a disabled employee receives reasonable accommodations, their performance is deemed adequate when compared to that of other employees.
Additionally, NJLAD allows employers to discriminate against disabled workers if they can show that, even with a reasonable accommodation, having that worker in a particular position would put that worker’s health or safety at risk, as well as the health and safety of other workers, customers, or clients.
A significantly increased chance of serious injury is what constitutes a “hazard” for a person with a disability.
The possibility of the risk occurring the severity of the harm if it does, the number of persons, who would be impacted if the risk materialised, and the ease or difficulty of minimising the risk of all factors to be considered while deciding.
A disabled individual cannot be discriminated against because of their disability on the grounds of unreasonable fears or preferences held by employers, clients, customers, or coworkers.
- Because of a predicted or actual increase in the cost of insurance under a group of employee insurance plans.
- Because of an unproven assumption that the person will be absent from work on a persistent basis.
Consult a Lawyer!
Call a New York City wrongful termination lawyer if you are an executive or professional in the New York metropolitan region and you think you were unlawfully terminated or that your employer has neglected to appropriately accommodate your disability.