The Colleague He Shoved Into Traffic Because of a Bird

A bird flew up from the sidewalk. The man ran. The woman ahead of him fell off the curb and into the side of a parked car.

She broke both bones in one forearm. Surgery the next day. Four days in hospital.

He didn't help. He stood at a distance, he says, because the bird had landed near her. He came inside when the ambulance arrived.

Multiple witnesses saw it happen. The police investigated. The driver's insurance company investigated. Both found him fully at fault — the witnesses said he'd extended his arms back and then out when he pushed her. Not a bump. A shove.

He paid for the damaged mirror. He has not been charged, though it remains possible.

She quit. When HR asked what it would take for her to come back, she said fire him. HR declined. She told them she would not return.

He has a phobia of birds, he explained to the manager and to HR. He produced a letter from his therapist: he'd been in treatment for ornithophobia and anxiety for over two years. That was why he ran, he said, and why he didn't help afterward.

HR was wary of firing someone with a documented mental illness and no prior disciplinary record. So was the manager. They tried to get her to reconsider. He called to apologise, with HR present. She yelled at him and did not accept. They explained his phobia to her, with his permission. She said she didn't care.

Eventually both he and the company received a letter from a lawyer asking them to stop contacting her. She never filed a workers' compensation claim. She never asked for money for her medical bills. She didn't take legal action. The company's legal department had told them all to prepare for a claim — her case was strong, they said, and they should settle. Her letter said she'd decided not to take action and just wanted to move on.

She now has another job. The company was not contacted for a reference.

The manager was surprised, later, when he mentioned he'd decided to take a break from therapy and look at his options. He volunteered this without being asked. The manager didn't think it appropriate to comment.

Word has gotten around the industry. The manager has been asked about it by a few people. The manager tells them there's nothing to say, and they stop asking.

He is still working there. His work is still excellent. He has had no disciplinary or work-related issues. He has not re-entered therapy and is not undergoing any kind of treatment, according to a later update.

She is still at her new job. She has not attempted contact. She is on a five-year payment plan with the hospital and rehab centre for her bills, her lawyer said.

The question nobody involved seems to have answered: what happens the next time there's a bird on the sidewalk?

The phobia that caused the injury has not been treated. The man who pushed a colleague into traffic because of it remains at work, in the same role, walking the same sidewalks. The company bent itself into knots to avoid firing him — phobia as mitigating factor, mental illness as protected category, no prior record to point to. All of that is legally defensible. None of it changes the fact that the last time a bird startled him, someone ended up in surgery.

She decided the risk wasn't worth taking twice. She walked away from the projects she'd been working on and refused every attempt to bring her back. She didn't demand he be fired — HR asked what it would take, and she told them. When they said no, she said she wouldn't return. Then she stopped responding.

She also decided not to sue, which surprised everyone who'd been advising the company to settle. She has a strong case, multiple witnesses, and a five-year payment plan for the medical bills. She's told her new employer everything that happened — the manager knows that for certain, because the industry in that area is small. She's not hiding what happened to her. She's just not pursuing it legally.

The manager's updates are curiously flat. His work is excellent. There have been no issues. He paid for the mirror. Word has gotten around a little. The tone is the tone of someone documenting facts for a file, not someone processing the fact that a member of their team put another member of their team in hospital and the resolution was that the injured person left.

The comments were blunter. One pointed out that if he'd been mediocre, he'd have been fired. Another noted that having an illness doesn't excuse causing someone harm. A third asked how many more injuries have to happen before HR realises they have a problem.

The structure of the outcome is the interesting thing. The person who panicked kept their job. The person who got hurt left hers. The person whose phobia caused the injury stopped treating the phobia. The company that tried to accommodate the phobia is now in the position of employing someone they know will panic and shove if startled, and they've lost the institutional knowledge she took with her when she decided the risk of walking in next to him again wasn't one she'd take.

Nobody seems to have asked whether he can safely do a job that involves walking on sidewalks where birds land. The phobia is documented. The consequences of the phobia are documented. The fact that he's no longer treating it is documented. What's not documented is the plan for the next bird.