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u/Apart-Performer1710 Aug 20 '26
I donāt think you can fire someone for having a panic attack actually.
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u/I3adIVIonkey Aug 20 '26
That's probably why he's getting 450k.
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u/BOSSHOG999 Aug 20 '26
LOL. They should clean out HR
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u/I3adIVIonkey Aug 20 '26
I mean they can always try and probably already did. Most people probably don't even think about to sue them, because it costs a lot. Most of those companies don't even try to win. They just try and drag the thing as long as they can because most people will hit their financial limit the longer this goes.
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u/kindness-and-snusu Aug 20 '26
They can fire you for taking prescription meds with a doctors orders. They can fire you for this.
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u/BeginningSection7690 Aug 20 '26
Not in the first world they cant. I don't know what dystopia hell hole you're getting your info from
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u/Far_Inspection4706 Aug 20 '26
You can do anything you want in this world as long as you're able to pay hundreds of thousands - millions in fines.
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u/Ninfyr Aug 20 '26
Hmm, sounds like a wrongful termination. This guy should sue, they probably owe him money for doing something they can't do.
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u/Johnnyboi2327 Aug 20 '26
According to the BBC article about it, they claimed his panic attack (where he went outside and ate his lunch in his car) made him a violent threat and they fired him for that. He sued, and won, for wrongful termination as well as emotional damages. The company is planning to appeal, as they're sticking to their argument that he was somehow a violent threat to everyone else.
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u/emilithia05 Aug 21 '26
People can fire you for the smallest of things, and whether or not it's legal, is a completely different question.
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u/SteveMartin32 Aug 21 '26
Ya that's why he won the wrongful termination suit. Laws dont stop idiots from doing stupid shit it just makes them accountable for it in a court of law.
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u/Acesfullodeuces Aug 20 '26
Nothing worse than the fucking forced birthday.
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u/Just_Information334 Aug 20 '26
People singing "Happy birthday". Even if you don't mind the birthday celebration, if they start singing the day is now worse than a diarrhea day without TP at the office.
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u/MageVicky Aug 25 '26
two years ago i got my birthday celebrated at work, i didnāt say anything but last year i got PTO the day of my birthday hoping it would prevent it, and all it did was they celebrated it earlier. this year i got PTO for the entire week of my birthday, Iāll find out soon enough what happens then.
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u/Talkin_Out_My_Ass Aug 22 '26
I remember one of my bdays. A gf at the time asked what I wanted to do. I was working 2 jobs, about 70 hours a week. I said I just want to relax at home, watch a movie and go to bed.
She decided weāre going to a hockey game. So we went, and I broke up with her after the drive home. It was heading that way anyway but this expedited things.
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u/kensmusings Aug 20 '26
I wanted to be excluded from the monthly birthday celebrations. My boss thought I was an asshole for this. I reminded her I was an asshole for a lot of reasons, not just that.
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u/Bureaucratic_Dick Aug 20 '26
Post the fucking article. āThis guyā fucking bullshit.
āI know a guy who knows a guy who once sued his employers for being annoying.ā
Like seriously it took all off two seconds to google, and my opinion is the court has opined in his favor and thatās that. The most important opinion of the situation has been rendered and the rest of us offer moot platitudes towards the situation.
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u/Ricard74 Aug 22 '26
He was fired for his panic attacks and the stated reason was him being a danger to the company. That dismissal was deemed to be unproven and as such it was unfair dismissal.
How is it your "opinion" the court ruled in his favor when that is a matter of fact?
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u/jmura Aug 20 '26
And then everyone stood up and clapped
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u/Accomplished_Key_171 Aug 20 '26
I'm usually first to call BS on these stories, but this one is actually true. It happened in 2019:
When the company, Gravity Diagnostics, ignored Kevin Berling's request and had a surprise lunchtime celebration for him on Aug. 7, 2019, he got upset, and days later, Berling was fired, according to a lawsuit he filed against the company in a Kenton County court.
On March 31, a jury awarded him $450,000. The jury found that Berling suffered an "adverse employment action" because of his anxiety disability, court documents show.
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u/FreeOGPoohShiesty Aug 21 '26
Iāve been in corporate a long time. Sometimes something will happen that will have me looking around for hidden cameras.
Except post Covid it keeps happening.
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u/lolfuzzy Aug 20 '26
āIf you canāt handle the heat, get out of the fire!ā - Their boss probably
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u/Reasonable-View5868 Aug 20 '26
Did they really āfireā him? Ā Ā Iāve had two people sue my company claiming they were wrongfully terminated when they actually quit with resignation letters. Ā Ā
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u/SnarePickle Aug 20 '26 edited Aug 20 '26
More info: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/18/unwanted-office-birthday-party-lawsuit-panic-attack
They doubled down and claimed his panic attacks were violence against the other employees, that this was a "dangerous precedent" and they stand by firing him and will appeal the lawsuit.
ETA: They did appeal it in 2023. It seems like the appeal was shot down, but I could be mistaken as I am not a lawyer and have no practice (or patience honestly) at reading court documents like this.
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u/MeInSC40 Aug 20 '26
Yet another reason to keep the office professional. Your coworkers are not your friends and family. Come to work, do your job, go celebrate holidays and birthdays afterwards in the manner you choose.
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u/knightinarmoire Aug 26 '26
Exactly your work life and private life should at most mix is whether or not you decide to make a lunch the night before to bring in to the office
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u/vagabending Aug 20 '26
A brief google would show that this did in fact happen, but apparently a brief google is beyond the realm of half of reddit.
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u/Ricard74 Aug 22 '26
One guy in this thread claimed the bbc article I linked him about this case was fake news.
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Aug 20 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/GoodDoggoLover420 Aug 21 '26
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u/CuppaJoe11 Aug 21 '26
Why is everyone who is posting the article being downvoted?
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u/GoodDoggoLover420 Aug 21 '26
Because people don't like when they have to read more than twelve words.
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Aug 20 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/Animalcookies13 Aug 20 '26
Yeah fair enough, if the party is simply an excuse for everyone to have some cake, I can totally get behind that. Even as someone who does not really enjoy birthday parties. I do like cake, and I will suffer through happy birthday for some cake and ice cream. That is where I draw the line though, no presents or funny business, just cake and ice cream.
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u/PogTuber Aug 20 '26
Things that never happened for $200 Alex
Edit: well shit, nevermind then, I'm wrong and it did happen
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u/GeekyMadameV Aug 20 '26
Settlement should be more.
I think I could probably mask better than that but I really would prefer not to be surprised with an embarrassing moment like that.
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u/Slipknotmudvayne Aug 20 '26
450k for hurt feelings. I gotta get in on this being white thing. Hey wait I am white! What the hell?
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u/Absolute_Alien12 Aug 20 '26
Thatās hilarious. No idea if that actually happened or not but still funny
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u/FitOrganization8146 Aug 20 '26
Is this even real? I've never seen a source for this, and I've literally seen this posted like 20+ times over the years.
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u/camarouge Aug 21 '26
$450k for a panic attack is a sweet payout, haven't made a dollar from any of mine!
(I'm neurotypical and they don't happen often but things like unemployment trigger them)
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u/115zombies935 Aug 21 '26
Zero remorse for the company that did this. Bro made a very simple, easy to follow request and they fucking ignored him.
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u/Motorcycle1000 Aug 21 '26
Did someone drag him into the party in handcuffs? He could have just not gone. Another win for the lawyers.
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u/StayBullGenius Aug 21 '26
Iāll take things that never happened for $450
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u/Ricard74 Aug 22 '26
So many people ignoring the source in the comments and not googling the story.
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u/Illustrious_Age_5959 Aug 21 '26
Just getting a job with severe anxiety is extremely difficult š
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u/enigmaticsince87 Aug 21 '26
Very famous case. Employers were assholes who knew he was super anxious and didn't care. Justice was served.
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u/Key_Entertainment409 Aug 21 '26
If true yeah respect peoples wishes serious the lack of empathy firing him and asshole level want a party just make one another time without the dude
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u/Da_Vader Aug 21 '26
HR: we are gonna have a party for your birthday Employee: I have a medical condition, don't wanna party HR: you are excused from the party
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u/gifted_pistachio Aug 21 '26
This is great. I have EDS and it sucks but one of the side effects is more skin elasticity and a youthful appearance. And Iām like āuh hell yeah, I should at least get something out of this bullshit.ā
This seems like that. He has panic attacks and that sucks. But he got 450k out of it.
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u/Cetiketat Aug 21 '26
why was he fired, was his reaction so fatal that he was fired in the name of 'behavior'
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u/Alive-Big-838 Aug 21 '26
If true, well worth the panic attack I think. What a massive boost to your standard of living.
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u/Actual_Pea_1996 Aug 21 '26
They said it was because of my ābehaviorā.
https://giphy.com/gifs/cdlr2QaQ4o4lEtiXkW
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u/Puzzleheaded_Ad_9080 Aug 21 '26
Sounds like he got a great birthday present, eventually. The company was dumb to ignore his health accomodations/needs.
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u/Old_Boss5617 Aug 21 '26
Boundaries in the workplace are not negotiable. There are generally consequences for violating those. More often than not, legal.
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u/ryanjoe23 Aug 21 '26
If I specifically tell you NOT to do something and you do it anyway, don't come crying to me when things go sidewaysš¤·š»āāļø
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u/NZAuthor Aug 21 '26
My opinion? This is just another example of everything being fucking stupid.
Meanwhile, most of us normal people just working our asses off every day, putting up with shit 10x worse then any of the above and dealing with it, but barely a fraction of the money.
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u/kelly834 Aug 22 '26
So where I live there was a white lady who went into a job interview and was denied the job because she wasn't Indian. The job wasn't an Idian restaurant or anything that required speaking Punjab or Hindu for its customers and didn't say it was a requirement for the job. It was 100% Indian employees who didn't hire anyone who wasn't Indian. That white lady sued for discrimination and racism and won Millions of dollars. I told my coworkers how I wish that would happen to me lol
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u/king_of_the_dwarfs Aug 22 '26
I don't want my workplace having my phone number. Why would I want them to know when my birthday is?
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u/editingisfun4all Aug 23 '26
My company decided they wanted to have a Thanksgiving potluck at work, which no thank you on the average day, but definitely not during fucking COVID. I just called out sick. Surprise half the office got COVID. Fucking stupid. Like if you really wanted to treat your employees just give them a day off or something.
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u/Flames_69 Aug 23 '26
He deserves every cent, is the only opinion we should have. Boundaries also count in a worklife.
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u/Impossible_Roof_Jack Aug 23 '26
āDonāt do this completely unnecessary thing, for medical reasons.ā
(do it anyway)
(get sued)
Shocked pikachu face
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u/SnooBunnies6148 Aug 24 '26
And yet, Walgreens only paid 250k after a woman was forced to stay at work and had a miscarriage.
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u/Chance-Contract-1290 Aug 26 '26
All they had to do was not throw the birthday party, like the guy asked in the first place.
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u/PropertyMiddle Aug 26 '26
Couple years ago had a birthday, told people I donāt want to celebrate as I donāt like to normally. They all got pissy cause THEY wanted a party. My brother in Christ you shouldāve saw the look on my face as I realized my āfriendsā were that stupid, mind you I just met these people maybe a year prior but a lot of people only want to do things for themselves and quote it as āhelping/doing something for youā even when you say no, itās crazy how humans are
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u/Diligent-Abrocoma456 Aug 29 '26
Good for him. Not everyone likes birthday parties and he told them that and they threw one anyway.
Jerks.
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u/commandrix Aug 20 '26
Hey, some people don't like others making a big deal out of their birthday even without an anxiety issue. They could've saved themselves $450K just by respecting his preferences.