Kevin Berling told his manager at Gravity Diagnostics in Covington in 2019 that a birthday party would be a huge stress for him.
But the company did not listen to his request and Berling suffered a panic attack, the Courier Journal reported. The next day, Burling suffered another panic attack when his boss convicted him of “stealing the joy of his colleagues” and “being a little girl,” according to a lawsuit. Burling was fired after the second attack.
Berling claimed in his lawsuit that the company discriminated against him because of his disability and retaliated against him because he asked for a reasonable adjustment to it.
The court returned the verdict after a two-day trial in Kenton County that ended in late March. The jury awarded him $ 300,000 for emotional distress and $ 150,000 for lost wages.
The company’s lawyer, Kathryn Kennedy, said she continues to deny responsibility and is pursuing her choices after the trial.
Julie Brazil, the company’s founder and CEO, said in an e-mail to the newspaper that “with the growing number of incidents of violence in the workplace, this verdict sets a very dangerous precedent for employers and most importantly for employees. “Violence in the workplace is acceptable.”
Brazil said its officials, not the plaintiff, were the victims in the case.
Berling’s lawyer, Tony Bucher, said that as soon as the jurors met with his client, they realized that the company’s claim that he was a threat was withdrawn.
Burling had told his boss that a birthday party would bring back bad childhood memories of his parents’ divorce. The supervisor forgot to forward his request, the company said.
