The shift toward remote and hybrid arrangements has fundamentally rewritten the rules between New Jersey employers and their staff. For HR professionals and in-house counsel, this reality brings a particularly thorny compliance hurdle: evaluating work-from-home (WFH) requests as medical accommodations.
Under both the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD), employers must provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. When an employee requests to work remotely for medical reasons, you cannot issue a flat denial simply because management prefers an in-office culture. At the same time, you are not legally obligated to rubber-stamp every request.
Protecting your organization requires a careful balance between legal risk and operational reality. While a mishandled request invites costly litigation, employers still hold powerful tools to evaluate—and, when justified, deny—requests that lack medical support or threaten to disrupt operations.
The moment an employee mentions a medical need that impacts their ability to work in the office, the legal clock starts. This disclosure immediately triggers a mandatory, good-faith dialogue known as the "interactive process."
This is a two-way street. Employers often face liability not because they ultimately denied a remote work request, but because they cut the conversation short. A swift rejection without discussion is an immediate red flag for state regulators and plaintiff's attorneys. Even if a request seems completely impractical on its face, you must document that you took it seriously, asked clarifying questions, and genuinely explored alternatives.
Courts and the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights (NJDCR) have long recognized that telecommuting can be a valid accommodation. However, the evaluation is entirely fact-specific. To determine whether remote work is reasonable, you must analyze whether the employee can perform the "essential functions" of their specific role from home. A software engineer can likely handle their core duties from a home office; a laboratory technician or a retail manager generally cannot.
The biggest pitfall here is relying on a blanket corporate policy. If your company enforces a strict "everyone must be in the office three days a week" mandate, that policy cannot be used as a shield to deny a medical request. The law demands a case-by-case evaluation. You must look at the specific individual, their precise medical limitations, and the actual impact on your operations—regardless of what the corporate handbook says.
If an employee can technically perform their job from home, an employer can still deny the accommodation if it imposes an "undue hardship." Under the NJLAD, this is a demanding standard that requires showing significant operational difficulty or expense, not just minor inconvenience.
When evaluating undue hardship for a remote work request, look closely at concrete operational factors:
Crucially, New Jersey courts will look at your past practices. If you successfully allowed an employee to work from home during the pandemic or under a temporary hybrid schedule, arguing that permanent remote work suddenly poses an "undue hardship" becomes a steep uphill battle. You will need concrete evidence—such as documented performance declines, missed deadlines, or verifiable client complaints—to prove the arrangement is no longer viable.
Employers frequently encounter friction when requests stem from conditions that are difficult to verify objectively, such as anxiety, depression, or chronic fatigue. These requests are often backed by a vague, single-sentence doctor's note stating: "Patient needs to work from home permanently due to medical anxiety."
You do not have to accept a vague note at face value. You have the right to request sufficient medical documentation to confirm the existence of a disability and to understand exactly how it limits the employee’s ability to work in the office.
When facing ambiguous paperwork, provide the employee with their detailed job description and a focused questionnaire for their physician. The questionnaire should ask:
If the employee or their doctor fails to provide this clarifying information, they have failed to fulfill their part of the interactive process, which can provide solid ground for a denial.
To protect your business from failure-to-accommodate claims, establish a consistent framework for handling these conversations:
Managing medical remote work requests requires diligence and a willingness to talk through solutions, but it does not mean giving up control over your operations. Enforcing a structured interactive process and insisting on clear medical justification allows you to protect your business from liability while maintaining an efficient workplace.
If you would like to discuss how to structure your company's accommodation review process or need assistance evaluating a specific employee request, contact Christopher Heyer at cheyer@scura.com or call (973) 696-8391 to schedule a consultation.