Unlike Lance Armstrong, Michael O’Connell also has a neck scar. (source) His coworkers decided it would be jolly good fun to call him “uni-ball” and “cut-throat”. Apparently, Mr. O’Connell had a problem with that. He already had some form of anxiety disorder, so he claimed h
e was being harassed and somehow that implicated his disability. He was subsequently canned.
Forgetting that filing a lawsuit would mean that the public would now be apprised of his deeply personal loss, Mr. O’Connell decided to sue his former employer for discrimination, IIED, and retaliation. Judge is allowing the IIED claim and retaliation claim to stand. (Decision) The retaliation claim is one of my favorites: Judge found the guy didn’t properly prosecute the discrimination claim itself. But, even if you don’t have a valid discrimination claim, it is still unlawful to be fired for making a bogus discrimination claim. Technically, you could accuse everyone you work with of being racist, sexist bigots, and you cannot be fired for it, no matter how poorly it affects office morale to be accused of being a racist, sexist bigot daily. I don’t know anyone who has ever tried this, but it would be an interesting case. It would take a lot of something Mr. O’Connell lacks.
The IIED claim is an interesting one. Typically, you cannot sue your boss for an injury, including emotional injury, that occurs on the job; that’s why we have workers’ compensation. It is meant to get you speedy medical and replacement wage benefits in exchange for not being able to sue the boss. (The medical benefits were a fantastic thing for workers 100 years ago; nowadays, with most people having insurance, it makes things more complicated.) But, there are state variations and, for egregious conduct, apparently Mr. O’Connell was found to have stated a valid claim in his jurisdiction.
It is an interesting tort, like bullying laws, that significantly restricts freedom of speech. How mean are you allowed to be to someone before you owe them for their therapy bills? The most inappropriate man may need to be careful if he dares criticize a resident of Illinois.
