A former employee filed a lawsuit against his employer after they threw him a birthday party that triggered his anxiety disorder.
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No fear of getting old but a party is the culprit
In August 2019, the employee asked his manager at the office of a Kentucky-based company, Gravity Diagnostics, not to throw him a birthday party because it triggers his anxiety disorder and can cause “panic attacks in stressful situations.” Court documents state the male employee didn’t like being the center of attention because it instantly causes his anxiety disorder to worsen.
Unfortunately, the company threw him a party during their lunch hour which was against his wishes and caused a panic attack. He spent the remainder of his lunch break in his car. Days later, his employer approached him about his reaction to the party and fired him.
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He filed a lawsuit against Gravity Diagnostics for emotional distress and damages. Earlier this week, a jury awarded him $450,000 for the suit. In response to the decision, Julie Brazil, founder, and CEO claims it was the complete opposite.
“My employees de-escalated the situation to get the plaintiff out of the building as quickly as possible while removing his access to the building, alerting me and sending out security reminders to ensure he could not access the building, which is exactly what they were supposed to do,”
Brazil added that the employee texted his office manager asking why they failed to “accommodate his request (to) … forego the standard birthday celebration,” and was sent home sick for two days. When he returned to the office, he apologized for the panic attack. An email from Gravity Diagnostics was sent to him on August 11 where it discussed his behavior at the party and termination.
According to his attorney, Tony Bucher, the former employee’s time at Gravity Diagnostics caused him to suffer “from a loss of income and benefits and emotional distress and mental anxiety” and it was filed based on disability discrimination.
Splitting the $450,000 from the lawsuit
Additionally, the $450,000 covered his wages lost from the termination and “past, present and future mental pain and suffering, mental anguish, embarrassment, humiliation, mortification, and loss of self-esteem,”
Bucher noted that he was happy that his client received justice in the courtroom. “More than the financial award, I believe (he) was so happy and relieved that the jury recognized that he was not some violent and menacing person and that it was not okay for Gravity Diagnostics to just assume that he was without any evidence to support those misconceptions,” he said in a statement.
“Few people will know how much courage it took for him to take this case all the way to trial,”
The company is planning to appeal the verdict, citing a “discovery of juror misconduct violating trial judge’s orders.”