Here are a list of reasons why one could, if you work in an environment with freaky-ass rules, reasonably expect to get fired and/or strongly reprimanded:
* Insider trading (sometimes)
* Banging the boss’s wife
* Pissing in an underling’s mouth
* Aggressive use of whiteboard markers
* Organizing cockfighting events on the floor
* Buying prosties on the company dime.
Here’s why four Fidelity employees did get fired: fantasy football.
Cameron Pettigrew called himself the “Fidelity Man.” Working as a relationship manager in the private client group at Fidelity Investments’ Westlake office, Pettigrew says he looked forward to work every day. He even remembers telling co-workers and friends that he planned to retire someday from Fidelity, the country’s biggest mutual fund sponsor and one of the world’s largest providers of financial services. But that isn’t going to happen. Pettigrew and three other Fidelity employees were fired for playing fantasy football.
“Firing a guy for being in a $20 fantasy league? Let’s be honest; that’s a complete overreaction,” said Pettigrew, who lives in Grapevine and has an MBA from the University of Texas at Arlington. “In this economic time, especially. To fire people over something like this, it’s just cold.”
The firm, apparently doesn’t see it that way:
Said Fidelity spokesman Vin Loporchio: “We have clear policies that relate to gambling. Participation in any form of gambling through the use of Fidelity time or equipment or any other company resource is prohibited. In addition to being illegal in a lot of places, it can also be disruptive. We want our employees to be focused on our customers and clients.”
Fidelity Fires Four For Playing Fantasy Football [Star Telegram]
what a joke. places like fido and citi seem to be reaching quite a bit on these "with cause" terminations. great long term strategy not.
Sends a message to the other mole-people to get back to work and pick underperforming stocks
This would have never happend to a CFA
Truth be told, he got fired because he drafted a kicker in the 1st round.
fidelity = bucket shop
regards,
citi
wow getting fired for not doing work on company time? maybe he can go work for the govt. They seem to be hiring. I hear Obama needs a caddy.
What's their position on lunch time prosties? (and don't anyone answer doggie style)
@2 was hilarious
-Not 2
Wow. They should be able to clean house after March Madness.
yeah, get back to work, those S&P 500 shadow funds with the 85 basis point fees aren't going to market themselves
Gambling at Fidelity? I used to work in a casino in London. The casino liked to call it "gameing". At Fidelity they like to call it investing.
@7, Tiger may end up being O's new caddy.
wasnt there an article in the WSJ last yr about huge hedge fund guys being in a 500k a team league? I thought the article said fantasy football was a skill – hence not gambling.
I am very curious as to what Anal_yst thinks about this topic.
It seems like a lame way for Fidelity to try to avoid paying severance/unemployment. When they get sued the savings will disappear quickly.
Yahoo sports correctly pointed out that if one guy was forced to start Trent Edwards in his fantasy league, hasn't he already suffered enough?
Whatever, I know guys who spend 9/10th of their work day on fantasy football. I'm sure this jackass would fall into that category.
I love to hear the reverberation of my piss splashing off the walls of my underling's mouth
-ping
@Bess
You didn't add the best part, the guy never sent an email about fantasy or logged on to the website while at work.
he got fired because someone IMed him telling him how badly Trent Edwards played
Trent Edwards does indeed suck
@7 The President has a caddy.
Timmy G
Thanks a lot for letting us, uh….
I think they did him a favor. He is bound to make more $$$ now that he can dedicate a full day to work on his habit.
At Fidelity, we prefer our employees to pressure the street for preferential treatment including chartering planes and dwarf tossing for bachelor parties.
@16
Its getting annoying, and I'm sure I'll regret this, but:
Guy was probably an at-will employee so didn't really matter why they terminated him. Can he sue? Sure. Will he win (or get any settlement)? Unlikely, and even more unlikely to be anything substantial even on the off chance he does.
@Anal
I agree. Unless they were based in California (which has totally hardass employment laws), the company can toss his ass for any reason other than b/c he is part of a federally protected class.
Still seems awfully petty of them.
wait, pissing in an underling's mouth is a social gaffe?
@ Tax Chick
Fidelity has been tossing my ass for years trying to get business. They are definitely open to the idea.
-Nominate me
@Tax Chick
I've seen/heard of plenty of these BS terminations over the past year or two, imho, its (hopefully) only a matter of time before several firms get kicked in the balls for all the bad karma they're building.
All of these firms have plenty of dead weight they could cut with reason (at the group and individual levels); there's no reason for them to use bs "rationale" to fire a few here or there when they could take out dozens if not hundreds in one fell swoop with little-to-no interruption in business.
There is probably something deeper going on here than fantasy football. From what I read about the story there was an alleged general email and IM investigation going on for some other reason to begin with and these guys' FF actions were snared in that. So, what was the alleged secret email investigation all about? Hopefully Fidelity will issue guidance on that.
fidelity = bucket shop
regards,
citi
wasnt there an article in the WSJ last yr about huge hedge fund guys being in a 500k a team league? I thought the article said fantasy football was a skill – hence not gambling.
If only he had kept snoozing away while glancing occasionally at the Bloomg screen, checking if his index-tracking fund keeps underperforming…
It could have been a beuatiful life…
@Anal_yst – nope, cutting whole groups is probably done, as are the cuts of those they could make an easy performance case about.
This guy was probably some now-gone manager's pal and in his day, he got great reviews for mediocre performance, so you can't fire him w/o a lawsuit…..now they use those rules you forgot about (fantasy football, using the coporate card for personal use even if you repay, checking your net usage for porn, etc) and enforce them.
Ah corporate America! Checks and balances!
So he's got an MBA? Who f*cking cares, Ace?
@34…I CARE…I wnt to MIT and have never lost money.