mostly because he got fired after his "reaction" to the small lunch organized by the company
PS: I'm just justifying the 450k reward as being fired for no reason (his reaction). It's understandable
PS: I'm just justifying the 450k reward as being fired for no reason (his reaction). It's understandable
His employer refused to make reasonable accommodations for his disability, which in this case was no action at all. Further, they did the exact opposite of what he'd asked for in advance.
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/odep/program-areas/employers/ac...
> Berling has an anxiety disorder, said his attorney, Tony Bucher, and his birthday is a source of stress, so his client went to the person at the company who throws the parties and asked them not to.
> “The person who was responsible for the birthday parties who he talked to flat out forgot about his request,” Bucher said. “She didn’t do it to be mean. She said she would accommodate it and she just forgot.”
https://linknky.com/news/2022/04/14/man-awarded-450k-after-f...
I'd guess that that forgetting that a request was made does not mean a request wasn't made, and doesn't remove the employer's requirement to comply with the ADA. It's also unclear to me that the "informal" part of "informal request" means anything here - a request is a request, and it was made to the person in charge of birthday parties.
Regardless of if she threw the party to be mean or not (given the outcome, I don't think that's relevant) - the root problem may have come down to the company's reaction to his panic attack. They fired him for his disability. That's a clear violation of the ADA.