The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld U.S. District Judge John O’Meara’s decision to throw out a jury’s $4.4 million verdict for James McKelvey, who was subjected to verbal harassment at Selfridge Air National Guard Base because of his disability.
According to the Detroit Free Press, O’Meara decided to take the Army up on its offer to reinstate McKelvey to a job with higher pay at the Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command (TACOM) in Warren.
But the panel reversed O’Meara, concluding that the hostile work environment forced McKelvey to quit his job at TACOM. As a result, the Army must provide McKelvey with about $100,000 in back pay.
McKelvey, who had suffered physical impairments in Iraq during duty with the Army National Guard, commenced his civilian employment with the Army in February 2006. A co-worker initiated the harassment when he asked McKelvey why he used “crippled parking.” After that, McKelvey was called a “cripple” on a regular basis, including by his supervisor, who denied McKelvey’s requests for accommodations such as a touch-screen laptop or voice-activated programming for his computer.
Attorney Kevin Carlson, who co-counseled the October 2009 trial with Joseph Golden, told the Free Press he was glad the appellate court reinstated the jury’s finding that he was forced to quit because of disability discrimination. But he said that going back to the place where McKelvey was mistreated is a lot to ask, and he and Golden aren’t sure it’s legally correct.
An account of McKelvey’s lawsuit can be found at Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s website.
The Michigan Lawyer 