Guy wins lawsuit against his company for throwing him a surprise birthday party
Who knew surprise birthdays could cause such distress...
There are more people who experience anxiety and panic attacks than you even know; most of them mask it quite well.
But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't ignore the seriousness and severity of their condition. If anything, we should support them and not try to make them feel more anxious.
But how do you know not to do something to trigger a person with anxiety?
Birthday anxiety is a real thing!
Well, it can be tricky... but in this case, Kevin Berling informed his manager not to throw him a birthday party at work as he did for other employees, as it could bring on a panic attack.
Sadly, he didn't respect his wishes and Kevin received a surprise party which, like he said, triggered a panic attack.
Kevin got so upset that he left the party and went to his car to finish his lunch.
"The lawsuit states that Mr Berling was "confronted and criticised" at a meeting the following day, where he was accused of 'stealing his co-workers' joy" and 'being a little girl'." (BBC)
This in turn spurred on another attack and he was then sent home and Berling was then consequently fired for workplace safety.
However, Kevin said that his company was being discriminatory to his mental health problems.
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"After a two day trial at the end of March, the jury awarded him $450,000 (R6.7 million), including $300,000 (R4.5 million) for emotional distress and $150,000 (R2.2 million) in lost wages." (BBC)
The company, Gravity Diagnostics is challenging the verdict. Sadly, sometimes when people are not aware about something they can come across as being negligent or discriminatory and perhaps this is what happened here.
Take some time to remember that everyone is going through something, whether you understand it or not doesn't mean it is worthy of being inconsiderate.
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