Happy birthday, or not

Unless your entire work experience has been working solo as a lighthouse keeper, with nary a coworker in sight, you know the kind of boss I'm going to tell you about here.

Down in Kentucky, a man who worked at Gravity Diagnostics told his boss that birthday parties set off anxiety within him, and that he would have a panic attack if he were forced to be the the center of attention.

So, let's play the home game. What did his employer do:

• A) forgot the whole thing and wrote more productivity memos
• B) threw him a whizbang on his birthday, as she does for everyone else
• C) respected the employee's wishes and psychic needs.

Well, you know the answer! Couldn't give you a bigger B! 

The guy's birthday was coming up last August 7. He went to his manager beforehand, specifically asking that the office do nothing to commemorate the occasion. But, of course, they put on a party.

The employee found out about the lunchtime party as he was headed to his lunch break, which triggered his panic attack.

He then left the office and spent his lunchtime in his car. 

From his car, he texted the manager, asking why she refused to accomodate his request to be left the hell alone on his birthday.

And then, to compound (I refuse to say "double down" on) the error, the manager drags the guy into a meeting the next day, a meeting at which he was "confronted and criticized" by the office manager about his reaction to the birthday party.

That meeting resulted in the man suffering another panic attack. He asked the office manager to stop this insane campaign.

She sent him home for two days, and then, that weekend, he was told he was terminated "because of the events of the previous week."

He took the matter to court, and has won a judgement of $450,000, thanks to a jury seated at the Kenton County Circuit Court in Northern Kentucky. $300,000 was for the emotional distress, while $150,000 was for lost wages.

 

Time after time, employers and some employees fail to notice that, time after time, courts rule that it isn't what YOU think should happen on someone's birthday that matters. If they don't like birthday parties, and they tell you so, then take that cake somewhere else.

$450,000 worth.