Chris Barra, wrongly terminated, gets paid
Our reader “Ohio” sent us a link to an article about Chris Barra, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Reserves and a stock broker at Goldman Sachs who was wrongly terminated by his civilian employer.
A financial industry regulatory panel ruled Friday that Goldman Sachs must pay Chris Barra, a West Point graduate and lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves, and his partner, Luis Sampedro, $7.6 million.
Barra and Sampedro worked as a team at Goldman Sachs Los Angeles for nine years until 2007 when they were fired.
The panel found not only wrongful termination, but discrimination against military personnel, because Barra was “chastised and retaliated” against by the LA offices’ Branch Manager because he went on reserve duty.
Brother got paid. Well, not yet. Goldman Sachs disputes the panel’s judgement according to Reuters;
“We do not believe that the law or the record remotely supports the finding on liability or the amount of damages awarded and we are considering our options, including an appeal,” a Goldman spokeswoman said.
The arbitration panel’s ruling includes $2 million in punitive damages, a rare type of sanction intended to punish and deter misconduct.
The two brokers alleged that Goldman forced them to forfeit deferred commissions upon their terminations, according to their lawyer, Rogge Dunn.
Goldman changed its compensation plan during their nine years at the company, requiring that a percentage of their commissions be held as restricted stock units that would vest over time. But Goldman fired the two before the stock vested, Dunn said.
Category: Military issues
Good for them, but I’d rather see the guys that are making these decisions in jail. That’s the only thing likely to convince them it isn’t worth it to fire someone for serving their country.
I would like to see them in jail along with the fine. Jail might not convince them to stop being dicks, but taking money out of their pockets gets their attention; if you take enough that is.
Only to the extent that Barra’s reserve status factored into the termination decision do I applaud this. The damages, however, were awarded to Barra and another man so there is more to this, as the article states, with no detail. Barra is working in the finance field, for a Swiss company, I believe, and working for Goldman Sachs strongly suggests he wasn’t counting quarters for the laundromat. As for NG and reservists, generally, this means nothing. Most companies will filter you at the front end w/o ever suggesting why you weren’t hired.