Jury awards $450,000 to Kentucky employee who declined birthday party

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – A Kentucky jury has awarded a person $450,000 who sued his employer after he requested them to not rejoice his birthday at work – and so they did it anyway.

Kevin Berling advised his supervisor at Gravity Diagnostics in Covington in 2019 {that a} birthday celebration would trigger him immense stress.

However the firm didn’t heed his request, and Berling suffered a panic assault, the Courier Journal reported. The subsequent day Berling had one other panic assault when his supervisor chastised him for “stealing his co-workers’” pleasure and “being a bit of lady,” in response to a lawsuit. Berling was fired after the second assault.

Berling alleged in his lawsuit the corporate discriminated in opposition to him primarily based on a incapacity and retaliated in opposition to him for demanding an inexpensive lodging to it.

The jury returned the decision after a two-day trial in Kenton County that resulted in late March. The jury awarded him $300,000 for emotional misery and $150,000 in misplaced wages.

An lawyer for the corporate, Katherine Kennedy, mentioned it continues to disclaim legal responsibility and is pursuing its post-trial choices.

Julie Brazil, the corporate’s founder and chief working officer, mentioned in an e-mail assertion to the newspaper that “with ever-increasing incidents of office violence, this verdict units a really harmful precedent for employers and most significantly staff that except bodily violence really happens, office violence is suitable.”

Brazil mentioned that her staff, slightly than the plaintiff, had been the victims within the case.

Berling’s lawyer, Tony Bucher, mentioned as soon as the jury received to satisfy his consumer, they realized the corporate’s declare that he posed a risk was far-fetched.

Berling had advised his supervisor {that a} birthday celebration would convey again dangerous childhood reminiscences surrounding his dad and mom’ divorce. The supervisor forgot to move alongside his request, the corporate mentioned.