Disability Employment Law Awareness Conference

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 2026 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 - Program Moderators: Diana-Marie Laventure, 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. and Marissa A. Mastroianni, Esq.
  From resume-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 - Beth P. Zoller, Esq.

  For employees, families, and advocates, knowing your rights isn’t enough when communication fails or HR doesn’t act. 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: Litigating Disability-Discrimination Claims in New Jersey – Beth C. Rogers, Esq. and Corrin A. Cicoria, Esq.

  This session examines how disability-discrimination and failure-to-accommodate claims are litigated in New Jersey state courts. We will explore the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, including reasonable accommodations, the interactive process, adverse employment actions, retaliation, and the defenses commonly raised by employers. The discussion will follow a case from initial evaluation and pleading through discovery, summary judgment, trial, and remedies, highlighting recurring evidentiary challenges and practical strategies for attorneys representing employees or counseling employers. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of the issues that frequently determine the strength and outcome of disability-related employment claims in New Jersey.

• 11:45 | Lunch

• 12:30 | Neurodiversity, Disability, and the Future of Work: What You Need to Know Now - Heather C. Keith, 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; Mindy Scheier 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 - Leonard Jones, Esq. and 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. and Sara Kaplan-Khodorovsky, 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