DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The state must pay nearly $1 million after losing a discrimination lawsuit filed by a long-time Iowa Department of Natural Resources employee, who said he was fired because he sought work accommodations for a job injury.
Court documents in Polk County District Court show 65-year-old John Vetter was awarded more than $688,000 in damages after a jury agreed that the DNR’s Forestry Bureau fired the ex-technician in 2013 because of a disability involving his back.
A judge ordered Thursday that Vetter be paid an additional $246,000 for attorney’s fees and other expenses. The judge earlier denied a request by the attorney general’s office to toss the jury verdict. The state is still considering whether to appeal.
A bureau supervisor testified last year that firing Vetter was a “bad decision.”
