A Kentucky man who was fired from his job after an unwanted birthday party caused him a severe panic attack has been awarded $450,000. Kevin Berling, a former employee at Gravity Diagnostics in Covington, had worked at the lab for roughly 10 months when he asked the office manager not to acknowledge his birthday or throw any kind of party, according to a lawsuit filed in Kenton County Circuit Court. His lawyer, Tony Bucher, claimed the party was planned by other employees while the manager was away and things quickly got out of hand.
- Berling had a panic attack when he learned of the party plans. The lunchtime celebration was said to have included birthday wishes from his coworkers as well as decorations and banners hung all around the break room. To avoid the situation, he spent his break sitting in his car.
- Sadly, things didn’t end there. As the New York Times reports, Berling had another panic attack the following day during a meeting with two of his supervisors. The supervisors had confronted Berling over his “somber behavior” in response to the unwanted celebration. He was fired three days later in an email in which his bosses suggested he was a threat to his colleagues’ safety.
- The company claimed Berling became “violent” during his meeting with supervisors. It went on to say that the supervisors were “scared” of his behavior and sent him home for the day, taking his key fob and alerting security that he was prohibited from the office.
- So what exactly did Berling do to scare them so badly? According to the company’s lawyer, John Maley, Berling had clenched his fists, his face turned red, and he told his supervisors to be quiet in the meeting room. “They were absolutely in fear of physical harm during that moment,” said Julie Brazil, the founder and chief operating officer of Gravity Diagnostics. “They both are still shaken about it today.”
- A month later, Berling decided to sue the company for disability discrimination. It took the jury only two days to reach a conclusion. On March 31, they acknowledged that Berling had been fired because of a disability — in this case, his anxiety disorder. He was awarded $150,000 in lost wages and benefits as well as $300,000 for suffering, embarrassment, and loss of self-esteem.
- The judge has yet to enter a judgment about the verdict. However, Maley said that the company plans to file post-trial motions challenging the verdict on legal grounds. They also claim one juror violated court orders and obtained information outside the trial. Maley also believes that Berling has no legal right to a disability claim as he never talked about his anxiety disorder with his superiors and didn’t meet the legal threshold of qualification.
