Employment/Legal question

[Punisher]

My wife has worked for a retailer for about 5-6 years.
Right before COVID she went on temp disability. Once COVID hit her job started furloughing some people and then they terminated her.
When I pressed them as to why they said that they were getting rid of her position and wouldn't have another position available for her.
She is still on disability while recovering but lost all her benefits.
She just got a call from one of the mangers offering her the exact same job as before but said she would have to start off as a new employee and re-apply and all of her benefits/accumulated vacation/etc.. would be reset.
This sounds super sketchy to me and looks like they "fired" her just to get out of keeping up on her benefits.
Does anyone know if this is legal? It's in NJ if it matters.

[stimpy]

I would take a "fool me once" position with that situation.

[malchior]

IANAL but to me it sounds very sketchy. It goes against everything I was trained to do in similar situations (in NJ). It sounds like they discriminated against her for her disability status. It might even be actionable. I don't know what the stakes are so it might be worth getting a consultation with a lawyer who can walk through the specifics and give you specific advice.

[LordMortis]

I have no idea but I figure your department of labor would.

https://www.nj.gov/labor/

The question is how do you talk to someone in your Dept of Labor since the before times.

[Octavious]

Ya I would 100% check with the labor board, but I'm better the response time will be less than ideal right now. I feel like workers in this country barely have any rights so who knows, but that sure sounds shady as hell.

[Punisher]

I figured I'd get a better and faster answer here.
Just haven't found the time t call them. I've been busy at work but eventually, I'll have to call them.

[Scuzz]

You could see if any labor attorneys have free consultations.