Disability Employment Awareness Conference
Date: Oct 30, 2025 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Location: New Jersey Law Center, New Brunswick, and Online
Member Price: $195.00
Non-Member Price: $244.00
Section Price: $0.00
Areas of Law: Elder & Disability Law, Labor & Employment, School
Earn up to 6.7 credits, including 2.1 in Diversity! (More Information)
Keynote
Moderator
- Ayesha Krishnan Hamilton, Esq.
- Hamilton Law Firm PC, Princeton
- Beth C. Manes, Esq.
- Manes & Weinberg, LLC, Mountainsideis a Partner in Manes & Weinberg, Special Needs Lawyers, LLC in Mountainside, New Jersey. She concentrates her practice in special education law, special needs planning, guardianships, trust advocacy and estate planning.
Admitted to practice in New Jersey and before the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, Ms. Manes is a member and Past Chair of the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Solo-Small Firm Section and a member of the NJSBA’s Elder and Disability Law Section and Education Law Committee, as well as the New Jersey Special Education Practitioners. She is a member of the Union County Bar Association, serves as Co-Chair of the Association’s Trusts, Estates and Elder Law Committee and is a member of the Union County Probate Early Settlement Panel. A member of the Board of Directors of Don’t Hide It, Flaunt It!, Ms. Manes is Past President of the Planned Lifetime Assistance Network of New Jersey, Inc., which provides lifetime advocacy for people with special needs. She is a member of the Special Needs Alliance, a national organization of attorneys who work with families with special needs.
Ms. Manes served as a hearing panel chair for the State of Delaware Department of Education, overseeing special education hearings. She has lectured on special needs children in divorce topics for CLE courses and for community groups, and has raised puppies for The Seeing Eye since 2012. She is the recipient of several honors.
Ms. Manes received her B.A., cum laude, from Brandeis University, where she was the recipient of several awards and inducted into Pi Sigma Alpha. She received her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, where she was a member of the Environmental Moot Court Team, won the Best Oralist award and was the Coordinating Editor of Production of the Michigan Journal of Gender and Law.
(8/23)
Presenters
- Jenna Budge, Ed.D., LSW, BCBA-D
- Behavior Analyst, Rutgers Center for Adult Autism Services
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey - Diana-Marie Laventure, Esq.
- Kaufman Borgeest & Ryan LLP, New York
- Jennifer M. Mohamed, Esq.
- Managing Member, Law Office of Jennifer Mohamed LLC, Flemington
- Claudia A. Reis, Esq.
- Lenzo & Reis LLC, Morristown
- Beth Rogers, Esq.
- President, NELA-NJ, Rogers and Jung LLC, East Hanover
- Robert T. Szyba, Esq.
- Seyfarth Shaw, New Yorkis a Partner in the Labor & Employment Department of Seyfarth Shaw LLP in New York City, where he defends and counsels employers in a wide range of employment-related issues, including background check and Fair Credit Reporting Act violations, “ban the box” issues, prevailing wage requirements, wage and hour compliance, whistleblower retaliation, family and medical leave compliance and interference/retaliation claims, paid sick leave, and discrimination/harassment. He also advises clients on preventive employment counseling, pre-litigation strategy and litigation avoidance, alternate dispute resolution and mandatory arbitration programs, and employment policies and procedures.
Admitted to practice in the state and federal courts of New Jersey and New York, Mr. Szyba serves on the Executive Committee of the Labor & Employment Law Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association. He has been Co-Chair of the Ethics & Professional Responsibility Subcommittee of the American Bar Association Labor & Employment Law Section’s Employment Rights & Responsibilities Committee.
Mr. Szyba has served on the Alumni Advisory Board of the Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal and as a member of the Sidney Reitman Employment Law American Inn of Court. He is a former Editor-in-Chief of the New Jersey State Bar Association’s New Jersey Labor & Employment Law Quarterly and has lectured for ICLE, NELA-NJ, the American and New York State Bar Associations, and other organizations.
Mr. Szyba received his undergraduate degree, cum laude, from Berklee College of Music and his J.D., cum laude, from Hofstra University School of Law, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal and a member of Hofstra’s Moot Court Association.
(8/23) - Beth P. Zoller, Esq.
- KSBranigan Law P.C., Montclair
Disability employment law is evolving quickly – from how companies handle neurodiversity and mental health accommodations to the risks posed by AI-driven hiring tools. The 2025 Disability Employment Awareness Conference brings together lawyers, advocates, and workplace experts for a full day of insight and strategy. You’ll explore what “reasonable accommodation” means in practice, how multinational corporations struggle to align global practices with U.S. standards, and why damages and defenses in disability cases are becoming more complex.
Whether you represent employers, employees, or advise corporate clients more broadly, this conference will sharpen your ability to counsel effectively and anticipate legal risk. You will gain practical tools to:
- Navigate disclosure, advocacy, and accommodation disputes with confidence.
- Advise clients on the legal and reputational risks of automated employment decision tools.
- Evaluate and design training programs that prevent liability while driving real inclusion.
- Counsel on mental health accommodations, where claims are rapidly increasing.
- Strengthen your strategies for proving or defending damages using both legal and psychological evidence.
Stay ahead of the curve on one of the most important, and fast-changing, areas of employment law, while connecting with colleagues committed to advancing disability awareness in today’s workplaces.
PROGRAM AGENDA:
- 9:00 | Welcome and Opening Remarks - Beth Manes, Esq.
Program Moderators: Ayesha Krishnan Hamilton, Esq. and Beth C. Manes, Esq.
- 9:10 | AI and Employment: How Automated Tools Are Changing the Game – and Creating New Risks - Robert T. Szyba, Esq.
From résumé-screening bots to personality testing, AI is changing how companies hire and manage workers – and how lawsuits are being framed. This session will highlight how neurodiverse and disabled applicants are disproportionately affected, what litigation is emerging around these practices, and how regulators are responding. You will come away prepared to advise employers on compliance strategies and to represent employees facing biased outcomes.
- 10:30 | Break
- 10:45 | Breakout Sessions – Choose Your Track
Breakout Session 1: When Accommodations Break Down – Navigating HR and Workplace Disputes
For employees, families, and advocates, knowing your rights isn’t enough when communication fails or HR doesn’t take action. This session explores practical steps to take when accommodation requests are ignored or mishandled, how to document disputes, and how to escalate concerns inside the workplace. Real-world scenarios will highlight what works, what doesn’t, and how to minimize the personal and professional toll of unresolved conflicts.
Breakout Session 2: Enforcement and Emerging Risks for Lawyers - Beth Rogers, Esq.
For attorneys, this session focuses on what happens after the breakdown. You’ll learn how complaints proceed through agencies like the EEOC and state human rights commissions, what trends are shaping investigations, and how enforcement priorities are evolving. We’ll also look at new risks for employers – from cross-border reporting structures to increased scrutiny of systemic discrimination – and what lawyers should anticipate in counseling clients or pursuing claims.
- 11:45 | Lunch
- 12:30 | Neurodiversity, Disability, and the Future of Work: What You Need to Know Now - Ayesha Hamilton, Esq. and Jennifer M. Mohamed, Esq.
This session explores how hidden disabilities and neurodiverse conditions are changing the landscape of employment law. You will learn how to counsel clients on when accommodations are required, what disclosure and advocacy look like in practice, and how global workplaces create new compliance challenges when U.S. standards must be reconciled with cultural and time-zone differences.
- 1:30 | Training That Works: Building Inclusive Cultures - Jenna Budge, Ed.D., LSW, BCBA-D and Beth P. Zoller, Esq.
Compliance trainings often miss the realities of disability and neurodiversity. This session explores what effective trainings should include, how to align multinational practices with U.S. law, and how to anticipate gaps that may later drive liability. Lawyers will gain practical models to recommend to clients and insight into the strengths and weaknesses of training programs that may become central in litigation.
- 2:15 | Break
- 2:25 | Managing Mental Health Accommodations: Balancing Legal Risk and Workplace Realities - Diana-Marie Laventure, Esq.
Mental health accommodations are among the fastest-growing – and most contested – issues in employment law. This session gives you the tools to evaluate requests, counsel employers on balancing performance with compliance, and represent employees whose claims hinge on both impairment and reasonableness. You’ll also boost your understanding of how stigma in the workplace influences disputes and damages, equipping you to anticipate challenges before they escalate.
- 3:15 | Damages and Defenses: Proving the Real Impact of Discrimination - Claudia A. Reis, Esq.
Damages remain the most difficult and consequential aspect of disability litigation. This session will guide you through proving psychological harm, quantifying career setbacks, and incorporating expert evidence effectively. Employer-side strategies for limiting damages will also be explored, giving you practical insight from both perspectives to strengthen your own advocacy.
- 3:55 | Wrap-Up and Key Takeaways
- 4:00 | Program Ends
Important Information About Our Events, Meetings, and More:
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Digital Materials & Environmental Commitment: As part of our commitment to environmental sustainability, unless otherwise noted, all seminar materials are provided as digital downloads. You can access these materials through:
- The “My Links” section at the top of our website for in-person or online events
- Or, for online programs, the event access link included in your joining instructions
Cancellation and Refund Policy:
If you need to cancel your registration and are not transferring to another program or date, please submit a written request to us at least three business days before the event, meeting, or gathering. You will receive a refund minus a $20.00 cancellation fee. No refunds or registration changes will be issued within three business days of the event, meeting, or gathering.
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Read our Scholarship & Financial Assistance Policy and submit an Application here: https://njsba.com/njicle/cle-programs/scholarship/