It was a Kentucky man’s office birthday party that resulted in $450,000 in damages. During the lunchtime celebration in August 2019, Kevin Berling, a 29-year-old lab technician at Gravity Diagnostics in Covington, was joined by his coworkers.
Due to Berling’s subsequent panic attack, he was fired from Gravity Diagnostics shortly thereafter. According to legal documents seen by The Post, he later filed a compensation claim against the company.
“Managers started giving him a hard time for his response to the birthday celebrations,” Berling’s attorney, Tony Bucher, told local TV news outlet WKRC. “They actually accused him of stealing his co-workers’ joy.”
When Berling first started working at the company in 2018, he allegedly asked the office manager not to throw him a birthday party. However, the manager “forgot” about Berling’s request and the office went on as planned, causing his birthday party triggers panic attack. His car was the only place where he could get some rest.
On the following day, Berling’s bosses held a meeting with him to discuss his conduct. A second panic attack occurred as a result of this incident. Berling was let go from Gravity Diagnostics less than a week later because his bosses were “worried about him becoming angry and potentially violent.”
Due to a lack of time, the lab technician was unable to participate in Gravity Diagnostics’ rapid growth during the COVID epidemic. The Independent reported at the time that some employees received raises of up to 300 percent.
They filed a claim for damages and compensation for lost wages in Kenton County after being laid off. Both of Bucher’s clients had panic attacks, and he told WKRC that his client was simply “using coping techniques to calm himself down” at the time.
In a unanimous decision on Friday, a 12-person jury awarded Berling $450,000 in damages.
Berling was awarded $120,000 in lost wages and benefits, $30,000 in future wages, and $300,000 in damages for “past, present, and future mental pain and suffering, mental anguish, embarrassment, humiliation, and loss of self-esteem.”
It’s possible that Gravity Diagnostics will appeal the ruling, but that has yet to be determined.