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RISKVUE ARCHIVE | INDUSTRY WATCH > EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES LIABILITY (EPL)
A Sickeningly Sweet Settlement
Jury Fed-Up With Employer: Department Store Ordered To Pay $20 Million to Four Clerks Fired For Eating Candy
By Linda T. Pierce, Esq. and Barry M. Appell, Esq.
In a sweet victory for four former department store employees, a jury awarded each one $5 million in punitive and compensatory damages in a wrongful discharge suit. The jury determined that the employer was guilty of intentionally inflicting emotional distress, slander, and invasion of privacy in terminating the former employees who were fired for eating candy and nuts from damaged packages.
During the trial, the former employees were confronted with videotaped evidence showing them eating snacks from packages damaged in shipping. Each worker admitted to eating the snacks, but claimed that they were following an unwritten store policy under which such food was left in lounges for employees to consume. Evidence presented at the three-day trial indicated that 90 percent of employees at the store also had consumed damaged snacks.
The jury undoubtedly focused not only on the actual termination of the employees, but the way in which the employer handled the dismissals. The former employees were berated and reduced to tears during accusatory interviews, then marched through the store and escorted out the front door.
This excessive verdict serves to remind us that not all nuts come in damaged packages—some serve on juries and others carry out unreasonable discipline. 
For more information and articles, visit www.silver-freedman.com
riskVue | The webzine for risk management profesionals
May 1999
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