A former
employee of Public Service Electric & Gas Co. won $550,000
in a wrongful termination lawsuit against the company
in a verdict announced Wednesday night.
A jury of four women and two men voted unanimously in
favor of Ted Wiler, a former worker who was fired from
PSE&G in 1996. The jury stated that Wiler had been wrongfully
terminated and that PSE&G was in violation of its company
Positive Discipline Program.
Wiler was a 14-year PSE&G veteran, who was working as
a supervisor at the Salem Nuclear Generating Station
here when he was dismissed after picking up a tool from
an equipment area without first determining whether
it was free of radioactive contamination, explained
Richard Schall,
Wiler's attorney.
The item was later found to be free of radioactivity,
Schall added.
At the time, PSE&G utilized a Positive Discipline Program
that promised employees they would be treated fairly
in discipline situations, Schall said. Wiler thought
he would be dealt with through this program and was
surprised to find out he had been terminated, Schall
said.
"I'm very happy to finally be able to show that what
PSE&G did to me was wrong and I was right," Wiler said
just minutes after the verdict was read Wednesday night.
The trial, which began Aug. 9 in Superior
Court in Mount Holly, went smoothly according to Schall.
"It went better than I could have imagined," Schall
said Wednesday night. "I feel the jury was moved by
how poorly PSE&G treated Mr. Wiler."
Schall said he feels the testimony of
Louis Storz, PSE&G operations vice president, who was
put on the stand as a hostile witness, was extremely
helpful in Wiler's defense.
"I feel that the jury did not believe
Mr. Storz when he spoke about why Mr. Wiler was fired,"
Schall said. "He was the person who approved Mr. Wiler's
termination. We showed how he had distributed a booklet
to the managers at PSE&G that expressed a policy encouraging
managers to fire people and shock employees into submission."
The jury, however, did not vote in Wiler's
favor in a claim of defamation against PSE&G.
"The jury was initially split three to
three on the defamation issue, but they ultimately rejected
the claim," Schall said.
The defamation claim pertained to a situation
that surfaced after Wiler's dismissal from the company.
After his termination, Wiler was shown
an official PSE&G newsletter that insinuated Wiler was
not fired because he made a mistake, but because he
violated safety procedures on purpose and therefore
had no integrity, Schall said.
Wiler said he is pleased with the $550,000
award the jury granted him. Schall said, though Wiler
asked for monetary compensation to make up for emotional
distress and lost wages, a specific amount was not asked
for. That was left up to the jury, he said.
"I'm pleased to finally put this part
of my life behind me," Wiler concluded.
PSE&G officials did not respond to repeated
attempts to contact them Wednesday night.
source=http://www.newschoice.com/ASP-Bin/ContentFrmBldr.asp?PUID=2689
|
