Big award for man fired during cancer recovery

[alp227]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

(09-13) 13:54 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- A state civil rights agency has ordered an electrical supply company to pay a record $846,000 for firing its Novato-based regional sales manager on the pretext that he wasn't spending enough time traveling to meet customers - at the same time he was recovering from cancer surgery.

The Fair Employment and Housing Commission's award in the case of Charles Wideman is the largest payment it has ever ordered in a discrimination case, said the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which represented Wideman. Nearly all of the award is compensation for Wideman's losses, but it also includes a $25,000 fine to the state for what the commission described as "despicable conduct" on the part of Acme Electric, based in Wisconsin.

Acme Electric's parent company, Actuant Corp., declined comment Tuesday. The company, which argued that it had dismissed Wideman because of work deficiencies and the declining economy, could appeal the ruling in court.

Wideman, a veteran electrical sales manager, headed Acme's largest sales region from February 2004 to March 2008, when he was fired at age 59. He underwent surgery for kidney cancer in 2006 and prostate cancer in 2007 and returned to work within a few weeks of each operation, but had to limit his travel while undergoing further treatment, the commission said.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/13/BAOT1L3LJH.DTL

[FLAprogressive]

1. Good! He should get more.

[teddy51]

2. Just one word... "Excellent". I hope he is doing well! n/t

[mailman82]

3. Wait til the teabaggers here this!

Heads are going to explode! They will say Let him die!

[rasputin1952]

9. Cool...less Teabaggers to contend with...

:evilgrin:

[SoapBox]

4. Another one of those wow stories...

Here is hoping that the fines hold.

I can just imagine if it got to the Five Activist Judges on the Supreme Court! I'll bet they would overturn.

[buckrogers1965]

5. It is disgusting that corporations just throw people away.

If they can't profit from you right now, they throw you away, like a piece of garbage. No matter how much you gave to them in the past.

I wish that if they wanted to fire a worker they would have to pay a years wage for every year that person worked for them.

[Demeter]

6. "Despicable"---More Judges Should Use It

in very long sentences and very large fines and punitive awards.

[DesertFlower]

7. great. nt

[DeSwiss]

8. K&R

disposable

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disposable">dis·pos·able {adjective} \di-ˈspō-zə-bəl\

1: subject to or available for disposal;
2: designed to be used once and then thrown away

[rasputin1952]

10. Nice to know that workers can be looked out for...

It's not like he was a slouch, (sales manager, headed Acme's largest sales region).

Once he had to cut back because of a serious health problem, the parent company even took whatever health coverage he had...sending him into the world jobless, w/o healthcare and a serious disease process to deal with. I wonder if the evil clown that shouted, "yeah" last night at T'bag heaven was the bastard that signed his termination papers.

[Johnson20]

11. Excellent! n/t