"A jury in Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas found that lawyers for former FirstEnergy senior counsel David Farkas did not show by a preponderance of the evidence that the Akron, Ohio-based utility "intended to retaliate" when it fired him in 2022. Farkas alleged he was axed in retaliation for having repeatedly expressed concerns about the electric utility's DEI program, which tied annual executive bonuses to diversity-related metrics."
"FirstEnergy's case was helped by an email from the female colleague to Farkas that read, 'Dude, do no smack me on the butt again. Not cool.' While the unwanted contact happened four years earlier, FirstEnergy was not made aware of it at the time. They only found out about it because she mentioned it years later after Farkas accused her of discriminating against him."
A jury concluded that lawyers for former FirstEnergy counsel David Farkas failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the utility intended to retaliate when it fired him in 2022. Farkas claimed termination stemmed from repeatedly expressed concerns about a DEI program that linked executive bonuses to diversity metrics. FirstEnergy countered that the actual reason for dismissal was alleged non-consensual touching of a female colleague's rear end. The colleague emailed a complaint, the incident predated the firing by years, and the company learned of it only after later internal accusations.
Read at Above the Law
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