The Alaska Supreme Court has vacated a $2.3 million jury award for a former state social worker who sued her employer for retaliation and wrongful termination over failures to protect her from a dangerous client.
The state high court on Thursday overturned the former employee’s award but let stand a lower court decision denying a motion for a new trial on liability that was filed by the Office of Children’s Services.
The agency claimed the jury award duplicated amounts the former employee received in workers compensation benefits. The high court said the trial record lacked sufficient evidence to resolve the matter.
The employee claimed she lost her job after raising concerns about the father of an agency youth who had become violent and injured her.
The employee filed for workers comp after being injured in an assault in December 2016, and the claim remained unresolved at the time of the trial.
The jury awarded the woman $2.3 million in damages following a February 2020 trial. The trial court later denied the agency’s bid to amend the judgment to reflect an offset for workers comp benefits paid to the woman.
The high court said because the workers comp claim was still unresolved, it was not clear whether the benefits “do or would overlap and duplicate any part of the jury’s economic damages awards.”
The justices remanded the issue to the trial court with instructions for an evidentiary hearing to address whether the jury award represents the “impermissible duplication of damages.”