This Law Firm Publication by Jackson Lewis P.C. addresses State v. Saavedra, in which the New Jersey Supreme Court held that a former school board employee may be criminally prosecuted for removing hundreds of confidential documents to aid in a discrimination and retaliation lawsuit she had brought against the school board. The court rejected the argument that it had previously legalized the right of employees to take confidential documents as a protective measure under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD). The court recognized that employers are not expected to tolerate self-help or thievery and that the court's own prior decisions did not endorse these methods as alternatives to the legal process. The court clarified that neither it nor the legislature had stated or implied that the NJLAD immunizes from prosecution employees who take their employer's documents to support discrimination claims. These litigants remain subject to the state’s criminal laws. The Court rejected the notion that plaintiffs should be able to take matters into their own hands to acquire documents to support employment lawsuits. The Court noted that the trial court could have assessed the documents’ relevance without endangering student confidentiality like Saavedra did by removing them.