Man awarded $450K after surprise office birthday party triggers anxiety

didn’t want the customary surprise party thrown for employees on their birthday because he suffers from an anxiety disorder and would not do well at such a gathering, reports NBC News.Regardless, the company threw him a party over a lunch hour in August 2019.“The person who was responsible for the birthday parties who he talked to flat out forgot about his request,” Berling’s lawyer, Tony Bucher, told LINK NKY. “She didn’t do it to be mean.

She said she would accommodate it and she just forgot.” Calling in sick make you queasy? You’re not alone Bucher said Berling began to have a panic attack when he learned about the party and went out to his car to regulate his breathing before returning to his workday.However, the next day management called Berling in for a meeting to discuss the party.“According to my client, she started reading him the riot act and accused him of stealing other co-workers’ joy,” Bucher said, adding that Berling started to have another panic attack as a result of the confrontation.“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.”According to Fortune, Berling was sent home and told not to return that week.

A few days later, the lawsuit claims, he was sent a termination letter citing the party and ensuing events as the reason for his firing.Berling sued Gravity Diagnostics for disability discrimination and retaliation and was awarded almost half-a-million dollars on March 31 of this year.

COVID-19 pandemic led to anxiety surge, particularly among women, study finds The court awarded him $150,000 in lost wages and benefits and $300,000 for.