Damages Watch '14: You Wanna Play Hardball? Bank Of America Is Game: Lawyer

Author:: Bess Levin
Updated:: Jan 14, 2019
Original:: Jan 8, 2014

Nobody embarrasses Bank of America but Bank of America!

Sunny Tadjudin is seeking HK$28.3 million ($3.7 million) based on the average of 16.6 percent of her profit contribution, a percentage she received in bonuses for 2002 to 2004, attorney Graham Harris said yesterday at the Hong Kong High Court. Tadjudin, fired in August 2007 for alleged failings including poor communication, received lower bonuses than she deserved in 2005 and 2006 due to arbitrary performance reviews, her lawyer said. She got no bonus in 2007 despite generating 76 percent of the group’s $28.6 million in profits in the 30-month period, he said. “She was delivering profits,” Harris said. The bank’s “scandalous and unconscionable conduct,” breached implied terms of her employment contract, he said. “She was entitled to be paid bonuses which represented her profits.” [...]
“These are inflammatory issues whose purpose is to embarrass the bank and pressure us to pay her off, which we’re not going to do,” Huggins said.

And it's going to fire you without pay over them, realize they did so in error, not feel bad about it and tell you to shoot HR a cover letter and résumé if you'd like the opportunity to try and get your old job back. Paul Boudwin knows what we're talking about. Boudwin's ordeal began in July 2011, when the bank was reviewing its employment records to ensure it complied with new federal rules that, among other things, require a criminal background check for anyone who works at a mortgage originator. When he was hired by the bank in 2006, Boudwin disclosed what he says was a legal misunderstanding from his college days. He and his best friend ate breakfast at a Denny's in Scottsdale, Ariz., near the Arizona State University campus. The place was a student hangout, and after they finished their meal, they mingled with other friends for a while. Each assumed the other had paid the check. When they left the restaurant an hour or so later, a manager confronted them outside, accused them of walking the check and called the police. They were arrested, paid a $50 fine and the $20 tab, tip included. The charge was later dismissed. "There was no intent for not paying for an omelet," Boudwin said. When Bank of America's review last year turned up the information about the omelet incident that Boudwin disclosed when he was hired, it set off a bureaucratic process impervious to reason. In a letter included in the lawsuit, the bank said the charge amounted to a "disqualifying conviction" under the law, which prohibits anyone convicted of an offense involving dishonesty or breach of trust from working at a financial institution. Boudwin submitted court records showing the charges were dismissed. Bank officials assured him the matter would be sorted out, and the bank even filed for a waiver from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on his behalf, court records show. However, the bank said because of the new rules, Boudwin couldn't continue to work during the six to nine months it might take to get the waiver. He was put on an unpaid leave of absence, and his Wharton trip was canceled. He was told he would receive his back pay and bonus when he was reinstated, he said. In late February of this year, his boss called. Boudwin thought his ordeal was over and the FDIC had granted the waiver. Instead, his boss told him he was being fired. The bank was tired of waiting, he said his boss told him. Two weeks later, the FDIC granted the waiver, but Bank of America refused to reinstate Boudwin to his old position. He was welcome to reapply, but his seniority, bonus and back pay would be lost. Unfortunately for Bank of America, Boudwin decided that appealing as that sounded, he'd prefer to win the money owed to him in court, and filed suit against BofA last week. Will his case set a precedent for financial service employees wrongfully fired over misunderstandings at Denny's, IHOP, OHOP, and local diners everywhere? Stay tuned. Bank Lays Egg In Omelete Case [Chronicle] Paul Boudwin Fired By Bank Of America Over Denny's Omelet Dispute [HP]

Brian Moynihan/Getty Images

Did they even have official swag? A website? An LLC?