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Yes, I'm sympathetic towards the circumstances that maybe led to the party happening anyway, but it seems like there was harsh retaliation against him for an is

Yes, I'm sympathetic towards the circumstances that maybe led to the party happening anyway, but it seems like there was harsh retaliation against him for an issue that he forewarned against.

freedomben 5y ago
I think we need more information about what he did that violated the "workplace violence policy" before we can say the retaliation was harsh. If he bumped into somebody on his way to the car, then definitely harsh. If he beat the shit out of a coworker, termination is probably appropriate. Tragic, and really sucks that the supervisor didn't listen, but as HR/management you can't expect to make a person/people (we don't know cause article didn't cover it at all) work with someone who beat the shit out of them, even if the person's supervisor had a warning. Whole situation just sucks.
- dundarious 5y ago
  I forgot to note that caveat, fair point. But it's implied he returned to work after lunch in his car, and that he was "confronted and criticized" for his reaction to the party, which seems like a light response to significant violence, so I'm leaning towards the less violent end of the spectrum there, on the order of something like a shove on the high end. Without clarification, that's just an assumption, but generally, the burden for proof lies with the employer. Edit: Actually, the Link NKY article referenced in OP clears this up, and it appears that no evidence or testimony of any violence was ever offered. The first set of opinions are obviously one-sided, but it seems clear from the last paragraph in quotation here that there was no real violence. > “They way [the Gravity Diagnostics employees] say it, they believed he was enraged and possibly about to get violent,” Bucher said. > Berling has never demonstrated any violence, Bucher said, and someone who is suffering a panic attack becomes almost paralyzed with fear; they don’t often lash out. > “Basically what the argument was is he was fired for having a panic attack,” Bucher said. “They made assumptions that he was dangerous based off of his disability and not off of any evidence that he was violent.” > If he had made violent gestures, Bucher said, Gravity Diagnostics would have had grounds to fire him, but he didn’t do anything threatening. > ... > With ever-increasing incidents of workplace violence, Brazil said, the verdict sets a dangerous precedent for employers and employees that unless physical violence occurs, workplace violence is acceptable.
  - stjohnswarts 5y ago
    I agree, circumstantial evidence and "reasonable" logic would lead you to conclude that if he was violent or threatening, they would have called the police, not pulled him aside for a stern talking to; especially in a state as open/free about guns as Kentucky is.
  - freedomben 5y ago
    Heh yeah I just came back here to say the same thing about the other article :-) Sounds like the violence was NOT a real thing.
  - samhw 5y ago
    > sets a dangerous precedent for employers and employees that unless physical violence occurs, workplace violence is acceptable This is the stupidest thing I have ever read. "This sets a dangerous precedent that violence is OK so long as it doesn't actually happen." Lady, what have you been smoking??
  - ashildr 5y ago
    > With ever-increasing incidents of workplace violence, Brazil said, the verdict sets a dangerous precedent for employers and employees that unless physical violence occurs, workplace violence is acceptable. In this case the company forced an employee against his expressed will to be the center of attention of a “party” and triggered his condition. This IS violence - from the side of the employer.
- kevinh 5y ago
  If it was a sufficiently violent response, I assume the jury would have taken that into consideration.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- mac-chaffee 5y ago
  There's another article linked which has more of the quote from the attorney: https://linknky.com/news/2022/04/14/man-awarded-450k-after-firing-over-birthday-party-at-gravity-diagnostics/ https://linknky.com/news/2022/04/14/man-awarded-450k-after-f... > “Basically what the argument was is he was fired for having a panic attack,” Bucher said. “They made assumptions that he was dangerous based off of his disability and not off of any evidence that he was violent.” > If he had made violent gestures, Bucher said, Gravity Diagnostics would have had grounds to fire him, but he didn’t do anything threatening.
  - freedomben 5y ago
    Yes thanks, that's the exact kind of info I felt TFA was missing. Sounds like violence was not really a factor, just an excuse.
- robonerd 5y ago
  If there had been any real violent act, I doubt he would have won his lawsuit. To me, this seems like one of those bullshit cases of "So-and-so is a little weird and his weirdness makes me feel uncomfortable." A sadly typical case of a neurotypical bullying somebody on the spectrum by framing any deviation from the norm as an implicit violent threat.
- astura 5y ago
  This is a bad article - the original article is linked within this one which has much more information https://linknky.com/news/2022/04/14/man-awarded-450k-after-firing-over-birthday-party-at-gravity-diagnostics/ https://linknky.com/news/2022/04/14/man-awarded-450k-after-f... >He started to have another panic attack, Bucher said. >“At this point he starts employing other coping techniques that he’s worked on for years with his therapist,” Bucher said. “The way he described it is he started hugging himself and asked them to please stop.” >Bucher said the two employees in the conference room asked Berling to stop, and when he didn’t, they walked out. Once the panic attack had subsided, Bucher said, Berling walked out of the conference room and was asked to leave the building. He was let go a couple of days later. >“They way [the Gravity Diagnostics employees] say it, they believed he was enraged and possibly about to get violent,” Bucher said.

Yes, I'm sympathetic towards the circumstances that maybe led to the party happening anyway, but it seems like there was harsh retaliation against him for an issue that he forewarned against.

freedomben 5y ago

I think we need more information about what he did that violated the "workplace violence policy" before we can say the retaliation was harsh. If he bumped into somebody on his way to the car, then definitely harsh. If he beat the shit out of a coworker, termination is probably appropriate. Tragic, and really sucks that the supervisor didn't listen, but as HR/management you can't expect to make a person/people (we don't know cause article didn't cover it at all) work with someone who beat the shit out of them, even if the person's supervisor had a warning. Whole situation just sucks.

dundarious 5y ago
I forgot to note that caveat, fair point. But it's implied he returned to work after lunch in his car, and that he was "confronted and criticized" for his reaction to the party, which seems like a light response to significant violence, so I'm leaning towards the less violent end of the spectrum there, on the order of something like a shove on the high end. Without clarification, that's just an assumption, but generally, the burden for proof lies with the employer. Edit: Actually, the Link NKY article referenced in OP clears this up, and it appears that no evidence or testimony of any violence was ever offered. The first set of opinions are obviously one-sided, but it seems clear from the last paragraph in quotation here that there was no real violence. > “They way [the Gravity Diagnostics employees] say it, they believed he was enraged and possibly about to get violent,” Bucher said. > Berling has never demonstrated any violence, Bucher said, and someone who is suffering a panic attack becomes almost paralyzed with fear; they don’t often lash out. > “Basically what the argument was is he was fired for having a panic attack,” Bucher said. “They made assumptions that he was dangerous based off of his disability and not off of any evidence that he was violent.” > If he had made violent gestures, Bucher said, Gravity Diagnostics would have had grounds to fire him, but he didn’t do anything threatening. > ... > With ever-increasing incidents of workplace violence, Brazil said, the verdict sets a dangerous precedent for employers and employees that unless physical violence occurs, workplace violence is acceptable.
- stjohnswarts 5y ago
  I agree, circumstantial evidence and "reasonable" logic would lead you to conclude that if he was violent or threatening, they would have called the police, not pulled him aside for a stern talking to; especially in a state as open/free about guns as Kentucky is.
- freedomben 5y ago
  Heh yeah I just came back here to say the same thing about the other article :-) Sounds like the violence was NOT a real thing.
- samhw 5y ago
  > sets a dangerous precedent for employers and employees that unless physical violence occurs, workplace violence is acceptable This is the stupidest thing I have ever read. "This sets a dangerous precedent that violence is OK so long as it doesn't actually happen." Lady, what have you been smoking??
- ashildr 5y ago
  > With ever-increasing incidents of workplace violence, Brazil said, the verdict sets a dangerous precedent for employers and employees that unless physical violence occurs, workplace violence is acceptable. In this case the company forced an employee against his expressed will to be the center of attention of a “party” and triggered his condition. This IS violence - from the side of the employer.
kevinh 5y ago
If it was a sufficiently violent response, I assume the jury would have taken that into consideration.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
mac-chaffee 5y ago
There's another article linked which has more of the quote from the attorney: https://linknky.com/news/2022/04/14/man-awarded-450k-after-firing-over-birthday-party-at-gravity-diagnostics/ https://linknky.com/news/2022/04/14/man-awarded-450k-after-f... > “Basically what the argument was is he was fired for having a panic attack,” Bucher said. “They made assumptions that he was dangerous based off of his disability and not off of any evidence that he was violent.” > If he had made violent gestures, Bucher said, Gravity Diagnostics would have had grounds to fire him, but he didn’t do anything threatening.
- freedomben 5y ago
  Yes thanks, that's the exact kind of info I felt TFA was missing. Sounds like violence was not really a factor, just an excuse.
robonerd 5y ago
If there had been any real violent act, I doubt he would have won his lawsuit. To me, this seems like one of those bullshit cases of "So-and-so is a little weird and his weirdness makes me feel uncomfortable." A sadly typical case of a neurotypical bullying somebody on the spectrum by framing any deviation from the norm as an implicit violent threat.
astura 5y ago
This is a bad article - the original article is linked within this one which has much more information https://linknky.com/news/2022/04/14/man-awarded-450k-after-firing-over-birthday-party-at-gravity-diagnostics/ https://linknky.com/news/2022/04/14/man-awarded-450k-after-f... >He started to have another panic attack, Bucher said. >“At this point he starts employing other coping techniques that he’s worked on for years with his therapist,” Bucher said. “The way he described it is he started hugging himself and asked them to please stop.” >Bucher said the two employees in the conference room asked Berling to stop, and when he didn’t, they walked out. Once the panic attack had subsided, Bucher said, Berling walked out of the conference room and was asked to leave the building. He was let go a couple of days later. >“They way [the Gravity Diagnostics employees] say it, they believed he was enraged and possibly about to get violent,” Bucher said.