Jury Awards $606,000 for Wrongful Termination

Weyerhaeuser Co. was ordered to pay $606,000 to a former New Jersey box plant employee who was fired less than two months after suffering a back injury, because he failed a drug test that detected painkillers while he on light duty, according to the worker's attorney and news reports. A Camden County, N.J., jury last week awarded Anthony Boyle, 39, $86,000 in lost wages, $70,000 for emotional distress and $450,000 in punitive damages based on his Nov. 1, 2001, firing from a Weyerhaeuser box plant in Barrington, N.J. Boyle contends he was fired because he complained to the U.S. Occupation...