Edit: Actually, the Link NKY article referenced in OP clears this up, and it appears that no evidence or testimony of any violence was ever offered. The first set of opinions are obviously one-sided, but it seems clear from the last paragraph in quotation here that there was no real violence.
> “They way [the Gravity Diagnostics employees] say it, they believed he was enraged and possibly about to get violent,” Bucher said.
> Berling has never demonstrated any violence, Bucher said, and someone who is suffering a panic attack becomes almost paralyzed with fear; they don’t often lash out.
> “Basically what the argument was is he was fired for having a panic attack,” Bucher said. “They made assumptions that he was dangerous based off of his disability and not off of any evidence that he was violent.”
> If he had made violent gestures, Bucher said, Gravity Diagnostics would have had grounds to fire him, but he didn’t do anything threatening.
> ...
> With ever-increasing incidents of workplace violence, Brazil said, the verdict sets a dangerous precedent for employers and employees that unless physical violence occurs, workplace violence is acceptable.
Sounds like the violence was NOT a real thing.
This is the stupidest thing I have ever read. "This sets a dangerous precedent that violence is OK so long as it doesn't actually happen." Lady, what have you been smoking??
In this case the company forced an employee against his expressed will to be the center of attention of a “party” and triggered his condition. This IS violence - from the side of the employer.
> “Basically what the argument was is he was fired for having a panic attack,” Bucher said. “They made assumptions that he was dangerous based off of his disability and not off of any evidence that he was violent.”
> If he had made violent gestures, Bucher said, Gravity Diagnostics would have had grounds to fire him, but he didn’t do anything threatening.
https://linknky.com/news/2022/04/14/man-awarded-450k-after-f...
>He started to have another panic attack, Bucher said.
>“At this point he starts employing other coping techniques that he’s worked on for years with his therapist,” Bucher said. “The way he described it is he started hugging himself and asked them to please stop.”
>Bucher said the two employees in the conference room asked Berling to stop, and when he didn’t, they walked out. Once the panic attack had subsided, Bucher said, Berling walked out of the conference room and was asked to leave the building. He was let go a couple of days later.
>“They way [the Gravity Diagnostics employees] say it, they believed he was enraged and possibly about to get violent,” Bucher said.