Office Birthday Party gone wrong

No issues with the verdict at all. The fact that employer was specifically on notice of the employee’s disability, threw the party anyway and then terminated the employment because of his reaction - it’s hard to imagine more unreasonable conduct or aggravated circumstances.

Mind you, 450k is a huge sum of money, especially if he can find alternative employment at a similar rate of pay (meaning the loss is predominately “non-economic”). The article does indicate that $150k of the overall damages were awarded as lost wages - I would love to know if there was a finding he has a reduced earning capacity in future, if he’s been out of work for an extended period or he was just a well-paid employee.

I’ve got a client who was sexually assaulted in the workplace by a senior executive and she has limited prospects of returning to full-time work in the foreseeable future in Australia. She won’t get $450,000USD. Interesting insight into how different jurisdictions put a price on compensation for harm.