Legal Question in Employment Law in New Jersey

The statutory law is not entirely clear on this issue. To get a defiinitive answer, some research into the case law would be necessary. However, I can tell you that being on disability does not protect one's job; i.e., an employee can be laid off while on disability. My understanding of the law and the advice that I have given my employer clients is that a NJ employee cannot be discharged BECAUSE they are on disability or intend to apply for disability. However, the employee can be discharged during a period of disability for other reasons such as lack of work, results of a pending performance review, etc. It is certain that an employee can be discharged if they are unable to return to work or perform the requirements of the job even with reasonable accomodations after a period of temporary disability.

See also: http://info.corbettlaw.net/lawguru.htm