American EA wins wrongful termination case

A jury decided last week that Francine Giani, Executive Director of the Utah Department of Commerce wrongfully terminated her EA in 2013 and then denied her severance benefits.

The court ordered $240,000 (around £184,000) damages to be paid to Rebekah Conner, the former EA to Giani. Conner claims Giani mistrusted her because her husband was a special agent with the Utah Attorney General’s Office, which had filed a formal complaint about the Department of Commerce interfering in an investigation.

Conner originally sued Giani and the department in October of 2013, stating that she had been fired in January of that year and denied severance benefits. In that case, Giani claimed Conner had quit and was not fired.

Last week’s decision concluded that Conner was wrongfully dismissed due to her political affiliation and that Giani intentionally violated Utah law by refusing to pay severance benefits, even after a court ruled Conner was entitled to them. As a result, Conner lost health care coverage and was unable to seek treatment for the emotional distress caused by her “public firing”, which involved a heated argument, according to court documents.

Read the original article at bit.ly/2b9cnXF