Big award for man fired during cancer recovery

[Liberal_in_LA]

Big award for man fired during cancer recovery


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#ixzz1XsLIkKX6

[Sinistrous]

1. K&R