Dive Brief:

• If you are looking for a way not to handle a touchy workplace situation, the recent outcome of a lawsuit in Los Angeles offers the perfect case study. In the case, a jury awarded Yowan Yang $7.4 million ($2.4 million plus $5 million in punitive damages) both as a victim of workplace violence and wrongful termination.
• Yang was attacked while on the job by a co-worker, but the employer fired him and the co-worker for fighting without conducting a proper investigation. 
• In spite of an investigation report from federal investigators two days after the incident revealing that Yang was a "complete victim," no corrective action was taken by ActioNet to investigate further, to communicate with Yang the findings of the investigation, or to rehire him, according to Yang's lawyers, Jim DeSimone and Kaveh Navab. 

Dive Insight

Since 2010, Yang worked for ActioNet took, a federal contractor which had taken over Yang's previous employer. Yang's employment history included consistent strong performance reviews and merit raises, including a raise just two months prior to his termination.

After being fired "for cause," Yang applied unsuccessfully for hundreds of jobs, DeSimone said his client lost "his career, his apartment, his independence, his self-worth and his self-esteem."

Clearly, the jury verdict and subsequent award points out that in this specific case, the employer's HR department found out the hard way that harassment, workplace violence and termination won't go unpunished by juries.