Block O’Toole & Murphy provides legal representation to clients who have experienced all types of injuries on the job — both physical injuries and other harms that cause damage to our clients. These types of cases involve discrimination, wrongful termination, hostile work environments and other types of prohibited employer behavior under city, state and federal law.
One of our recent cases involved a restaurant manager who was hit by a bus and was unable to work for several months. He was fired by his employer while still in the hospital, despite positive performance reviews.
We brought a lawsuit on the employee’s behalf, claiming that this restaurant group violated New York State and New York City Human Rights Laws about disability discrimination. Specifically, we claimed that the employer should have offered to provide our client a reasonable accommodation for his disability, in this case, an offer of unpaid leave up to six months so he could recover from his injuries without fearing for his job.
The employer, by terminating him when they did, also erased his eligibility for health insurance a mere two weeks after his hospitalization, leaving him not just without insurance but in a situation where he desperately needed it.
After being retained by this client, our law firm brought suit against the employer, a large restaurant chain, seeking damages for the man’s emotional distress that resulted from his termination. It also sought compensation for approximately $33,000 of unpaid hospital bills that should have been covered under the company’s health insurance plan, had he been provided an opportunity to enroll.
The employer vigorously contested liability and made two motions to dismiss the case, both of which were opposed by our firm and both of which were denied by the Court. The defense pursued an appeal of one such decision, attempting to persuade the appellate court to dismiss our client’s case. Our attorneys opposed and argued the appeal and we again prevailed.
The case did ultimately proceed to a jury trial, which was handled by Partner David L. Scher and the firm’s of-counsel employment lawyer Ravi Sattiraju. During the trial, Mr. Scher and Mr. Sattiraju successfully cross-examined executives of the company about their handling of this client, as well as the restaurant group’s general policies and protocols when dealing with disabled employees.
The employer’s settlement offer at the start of the trial was only $10,000. However, the employer succumbed to the plaintiff’s demand by increasing its offer by 95 times and settling the case for $950,000.
To learn more about this case and about our law firm, visit the Block O’Toole Murphy website at www.blockotoole.com. A full description of the matter can be found at $950,000 Settlement For A Restaurant Manager Who Claimed Disability Discrimination By His Employer