A California jury has awarded more than $80 million to former Zurich American Insurance Company employees who were terminated after taking un-logged days off that had been approved by their boss.
The verdict sum includes $25 million in punitive damages for each of the three sacked workers compensation specialist staff, according to their legal representatives. They were also granted awards for reputation damage, economic harm and non-economic harm.
The trio, named as Daniel Koos, Nicholas Lardie and Melinda Brantley, were fired in December 2017 prior to the conclusion of an internal Zurich investigation into their “off the record” paid time off (PTO), according to their legal representatives at Bohm Law Group.
The leave days were known as “Omen days”, so named after employees’ supervisor Christopher Omen, who was said to have granted the requests.
“The employees were each fired for allegedly taking unauthorized days off, but in reality the days were fully sanctioned and within company policy,” a spokesperson for Bohm said via email.
The insurer had previously turned down settlement offers of $150,000 per plaintiff, the Sacramento Bee reported.
A spokesperson for Zurich North America said the insurer is “disappointed” by the recent jury verdict.
“At Zurich, we are committed to maintaining a culture of fairness, equity and integrity in all our business practices and interactions with employees,” the spokesperson said. “We will pursue all available legal options, including appeal.”
According to Bohm Law Group, the jury awarded the former Zurich insurance workers compensation employees with the following:
Total Verdict: $27,886,374.00
Total Verdict: $26,156,326
Total Verdict: $26,209,712
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