After a long fight and two trials, Judge ruled in injured worker’s favor. The Employer, Cory Fairbanks Mazda, had injured the worker when her supervisor hit her twice with a door, herniating discs and causing headaches. Cory Fairbanks Mazda fired the poor injured worker rather than the supervisor who caused the 2 separate injuries, and tried to deny lost wages.
Despite the enormous sums spent by Cory Fairbanks and their insurance carrier against the former employee, the injured worker was able to prevail.
What was sad was that the Unemployment judge had already ruled for the claimant a year before on the same grounds when she found “no misconduct to justify termination”. Losing the unemployment hearing wasn’t enough for Cory Fairbanks, they also tried to deny workers compensation wages.
The claimant waited another year until the workers compensation Trial Order today. Big Victory for a well-deserving claimant who didn’t deserve the abuse. Cory Fairbanks really showed their true colors with how they treated this longtime employee. The sheer animosity shown a 13 year employee was over the top. Supervisors Ault & Rhoads testified at trial against the longtime employee. A lot of time, money, and expense would have been saved if they had just treated the injured worker with some decency and compassion.
Gary Yeomans was the owner/partner who made the ultimate call and testified live against the injured worker. Yeomans is a millionaire with ownership interests in several dealerships in Central Florida, but the “everyman/injured worker” was able to stand up for herself against all the money and win based on the truth. Cory Fairbanks dug a line in the sand and went to war against one of their most loyal workers. Justice prevailed, maybe next time Gary Yeomans & Cory Fairbanks will think twice about treating one of their own so harshly.
