Posted on 04/18/2022 12:36:28 PM PDT by Signalman
Sometimes it pays to be fired ... a Kentucky man who claims he was canned after suffering a panic attack over an unwanted office birthday party sued and a jury awarded him $450,000!
The jury awarded the loot to Kevin Berling ... who sued his employer for disability discrimination, claiming he was fired 10 months into his job over a birthday party gone wrong.
In his suit, Berling claimed he told his office manager NOT to throw him a BD party because he suffers from an anxiety disorder and a celebration would trigger bad childhood memories of his parents' divorce.
But, Berling says the company, Gravity Diagnostics, forgot his request and threw him an office birthday party anyway on Aug. 7, 2019 ... causing Berling to have a panic attack and spend his lunch hour in his car.
Berling claimed he was called into a meeting with company brass the next day, which he says triggered another panic attack ... and he says 3 days later he was fired via email. The company claimed they were worried about Berling being angry and possibly violent.
A few months after being fired, Berling sued ... and there was a two-day trial last month where a Kentucky jury awarded him $450k ... including $300k for emotional distress and $150k for lost wages.
An attorney for the company says it plans to challenge the verdict.
Old news.
This guy sounds like he has other issues but anyone who ever had the misfortune of working in a corporate cubical hell knows these birthday parties are ridiculous. If companies want to do something nice to help moral and team building they would pick up the tab for department happy hours.
I kept my birthday concealed from my company’s management for a number of years because all that I simply wanted to do was go have a nice quiet lunch and a beer at the nearby Montana’s and not be bothered with a celebration and cake (which I likely would not be able to eat due to my dairy allergy).
I recall reading on an earlier discussion of this story someone’s comment that this sort of thing is so typical when a busybody HR type (usually a woman) gets involved with this sort of stuff and that they often absolutely have to have these parties, etc which can really be that sort of a bother after a while. I know that would have someone like the late Paul Lynde snapping at me “You’re no fun”, lol.
What I hated more than B-day parties was the donation requests to donate for a gift that that a coworker would send around for their 3rd cousin’s upcoming wedding or similar nonsense.
This guy sounds like a real gem of an employee.
It takes a man jury to get things done.
He may be.
But not celebrating his birthday is a reasonable request to accommodate, and he shouldn’t have to give a reason.
I think the guy should have been awarded more money. If someone doesn’t agree to a party before it goes on, then don’t have it. Most parties are for the other participants.
I don’t like surprise parties.
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