Finding that the damages were supported by the facts and the law, a federal district court in California affirmed a jury award for $4,650,000 ($300,000 in economic damages, $850,000 in non-economic damage and $3.5M in punitive damages) in favor of a supervisory employee who was fired after she raised concerns to management about possible California rest period violations. The employer, Regus Group, PLC, challenged the jury award as excessive, against the weight of the evidence and based on improper jury instructions, among other things. The court dismissed all of the employer's challenges, finding that while the verdict may have been "a surprise to Regus" and was "probably tough to swallow," Regus simply lost and needed to accept that loss.
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