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Kentucky man who did not want employer to throw birthday party awarded $450,000
KIRO ^ | April 14, 2022 | Bob D'Angelo

Posted on 04/15/2022 10:14:25 AM PDT by Trump20162020

Kevin Berling took his former employee to court after claiming to suffer a panic attack and arguing that his stress caused him to lose his job, WLKY-TV reported. Jurors in Kenton County Circuit Court agreed this week and awarded Berling $450,000, the television station reported.

According to Berling, he asked the office manager of his employer, Covington-based Gravity Diagnostics, not to hold a birthday celebration for him, the Courier-Journal reported. Being the center of attention causes him immense stress, Berling said

On Berling’s birthday, Aug. 7, 2021, his office arranged for a lunchtime party, WLKY reported. Berling said he suffered a panic attack after learning about the surprise luncheon.

According to court documents, Berling left the office and spent the lunch break in his car.

(Excerpt) Read more at kiro7.com ...


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: birthday; goodforhim; kentucky
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1 posted on 04/15/2022 10:14:25 AM PDT by Trump20162020
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To: Trump20162020

how hard is it to NOT throw a birthday party??
No means no.


2 posted on 04/15/2022 10:15:50 AM PDT by ronniesgal (if more folks would mind their own business the world would be a better place.)
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To: Trump20162020

What causes me excessive agita and stress is dealing with phone contacts on major businesses.

I cannot tolerate calls to call centers and dealing with incompetent company reps. Utility, phone companies, etc. All I ask of these firms is a direct email path and subsequent follow up from my written and detailed account issues.

They don’t want that of course.


3 posted on 04/15/2022 10:17:56 AM PDT by George from New England
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To: Trump20162020; Gamecock; SaveFerris; PROCON; mylife; Rebelbase

Now they’ll have to throw him a Sorry you got sick but here is a check party.


4 posted on 04/15/2022 10:21:49 AM PDT by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait!)
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To: Trump20162020

I had an overbearing boss like this once. We had a death in the family, and he wanted to announce it to the entire institution, asked where/when the funeral would be, etc.

We squashed that pretty fast and got away from him asap.

I think some people have the notion that this somehow improves morale, or makes them a ‘cool boss’ - or something.


5 posted on 04/15/2022 10:25:57 AM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: ronniesgal

Simple enough.


6 posted on 04/15/2022 10:26:59 AM PDT by rrrod (6)
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To: Trump20162020

What a pussy!


7 posted on 04/15/2022 10:29:51 AM PDT by webheart (I thought I was helping by getting vaccinated but they say I didn’t help at all. )
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To: Trump20162020

8 posted on 04/15/2022 10:32:08 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: Trump20162020

Woman in traditionally male jobs cause a lot of these problems. They must find out everyone’s birthdays and have gift giving binges on the holidays.

And the “do you want to chip in for a Christmas present for the boss’. NO. He has more money. If the $h!7 flows downhill, so should holiday presents.


9 posted on 04/15/2022 10:32:17 AM PDT by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you. )
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To: webheart

Really? He extracted $450k from his employer.


10 posted on 04/15/2022 10:34:46 AM PDT by americas.best.days... ( Donald John Trump has pulled the sword from the stone.)
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To: Trump20162020

Half a mil should ease his suffering a little.

How is it idiots like this win big cash settlements while others who have been injured get little or nothing?


11 posted on 04/15/2022 10:36:24 AM PDT by Leep (Freedom: "What's the big deal" -joe biden)
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To: George from New England

Clark Howard calls your experience “Customer No-Service.” It’s real and it’s meant to wear down all but the most determined help-seekers.

We have an admin where I work who knows how to navigate the hidden rocks and shoals of “customer no-service.” One tool in her set is to repeat the words “speak to manager” at points in the automated phone process.


12 posted on 04/15/2022 10:40:36 AM PDT by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: Trump20162020

What a country...
Pussification is nearing total completeness...
A pussified communist country...


13 posted on 04/15/2022 10:44:30 AM PDT by SuperLuminal (Where is another Sam Adams now that we desperately need him?)
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To: Trump20162020

Comes down to the most basic skill of employees, and the most likely cause of conflict - people ain’t listenin’.


14 posted on 04/15/2022 10:45:09 AM PDT by larrytown (A Cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do. Then they graduate...)
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To: webheart

Correct.


15 posted on 04/15/2022 10:45:21 AM PDT by Seruzawa ("The Political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence" - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
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To: Trump20162020

LOL. A birthday party and a $450K birthday present.


16 posted on 04/15/2022 10:45:40 AM PDT by Pearls Before Swine
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To: americas.best.days...

He was fired for having a panic attack…after the party.

“The person who was responsible for the birthday parties who he talked to flat out forgot about his request,” Bucher said. “She didn’t do it to be mean. She said she would accommodate it and she just forgot.”

The party was thrown anyway, and Berling began to have a panic attack. He went to his car, according to Bucher, and worked through some breathing techniques. He then went back upstairs and finished his workday.

The following day, Bucher said, Berling was called into a conference room to have a discussion about the party.

“According to my client, she started reading him the riot act and accused him of stealing other coworkers’ joy,” Bucher said.

He started to have another panic attack, Bucher said.

“At this point he starts employing other coping techniques that he’s worked on for years with his therapist,” Bucher said. “The way he described it is he started hugging himself and asked them to please stop.”

Bucher said the two employees in the conference room asked Berling to stop, and when he didn’t, they walked out. Once the panic attack had subsided, Bucher said, Berling walked out of the conference room and was asked to leave the building. He was let go a couple of days later.

“They way [the Gravity Diagnostics employees] say it, they believed he was enraged and possibly about to get violent,” Bucher said.

Berling has never demonstrated any violence, Bucher said, and someone who is suffering a panic attack becomes almost paralyzed with fear; they don’t often lash out.

“Basically what the argument was is he was fired for having a panic attack,” Bucher said. “They made assumptions that he was dangerous based off of his disability and not off of any evidence that he was violent.”

If he had made violent gestures, Bucher said, Gravity Diagnostics would have had grounds to fire him, but he didn’t do anything threatening.

A jury awarded Berling $450,000. $300,000 was for emotional stress; $120,000 was for back wages and benefits, and $30,000 was for front pay.

“I think another compelling piece is my client’s therapist testified at trial and talked about how anytime he sees the name of the company it gives him another panic attack,” Bucher said.

With the company’s rapid growth during COVID-19, not only has the company’s name become much more prominent, Bucher said, but the company has grown four to five fold since Berling was terminated.

“Based on his employment records, where would he be?” Bucher said. “There are people whose income has gone up at least 50 percent during that time. He lost a nice opportunity with that company.”

Gravity Diagnostics founder and COO Julie Brazil said that the verdict in this case does not represent facts or the company’s employer rights by law.

“My employees deescalated the situation to get the plaintiff out of the building as quickly as possible while removing his access to the building, alerting me and sending out security reminders to ensure he could not access the building, which is exactly what they were supposed to do,” Brazil said.

With ever-increasing incidents of workplace violence, Brazil said, the verdict sets a dangerous precedent for employers and employees that unless physical violence occurs, workplace violence is acceptable.

“As an employer who puts our employee safety first, we have a zero-tolerance policy and we stand by our decision to terminate the plaintiff for his violation of our workplace violence policy,” Brazil said. “My employees were the victims in this case, not the plaintiff.”

Brazil said the company is challenging the verdict based on “discovery of juror misconduct violating trial judge’s orders, and then an appeal if necessary.”


17 posted on 04/15/2022 10:46:17 AM PDT by chuck allen
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To: BradyLS

Hitting 0 repeatedly often works, or saying “help” a lot.


18 posted on 04/15/2022 10:46:19 AM PDT by DrGunsforHands
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To: Jamestown1630

my husband’s female boss got really pissed that he would not let her put out that it was his birthday.
“ it’s OUR day to celebrate you”
Just go to Costco and buy a cake for no reason! You still get cake.


19 posted on 04/15/2022 10:48:16 AM PDT by ronniesgal (if more folks would mind their own business the world would be a better place.)
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To: George from New England

The worst part it seems about customer service is when you want to handle something online with a company that’s not an option.

And when you want to talk to a person directly, you end up dealing with chat bots or an automated answering system. Then you have to figure out how to trigger it so you can speak to an actual person. This is my experience, but yours may vary.


20 posted on 04/15/2022 10:48:18 AM PDT by SlipperySlope99
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