The man, Mr Kevin Berling, had been working at a medical laboratory, Gravity Diagnostics in Covington, Kentucky, for about 10 months when he asked the office manager not to throw him a birthday party because he had an anxiety disorder, according to a lawsuit filed in Kentucky’s Kenton County Circuit Court.
The next day, Mr Berling had a panic attack in a meeting with two supervisors who confronted him about his “sombre behaviour”, Mr Bucher said. He was fired three days later in an email that suggested that Mr Berling posed a threat to his co-workers’ safety. After a two-day trial, a jury reached a verdict March 31, concluding that Mr Berling had experienced an adverse employment action because of a disability. Jurors awarded him US$150,000 in lost wages and benefits and US$300,000 for suffering, embarrassment and loss of self-esteem.
Mr Maley said the case had not met the standard for a disability claim because Mr Berling had never disclosed his anxiety disorder to the company and had not met the legal threshold to qualify as having a disability. Mr Bucher said the reaction the company had described was Mr Berling’s effort to calm himself during a panic attack after one of the supervisors had criticised his reaction to the party.
Before that week, Mr Bucher said, Berling had received “outstanding” monthly reviews. The company said he had never received a negative review nor had he been disciplined, according to court documents.
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