More than a dozen bankers and traders at New York-based Barclays were fired just before the holidays, denied bonuses and left with coal in their stockings, The Post has learned.
Unscrupulous agents at British-based financial giant Barclays last month canned 15 of the roughly 50 Wall Street employees caught up in the financial crisis, two sources familiar with the situation said. .
Officials added that because most of the compensation came from year-end increases, no one was given bonuses and deprived of windfall profits.
For example, an investment banker might earn a salary of $200,000 and expect a $1 million bonus, one of the people said.
An employment lawyer told the Post that while it's not unusual for banks to lay off employees at the end of the year, the fact that they didn't give them bonuses was pretty callous.
“Good employers pay bonuses on a daily basis based on the number of hours worked during the year, but some employers don't,” said Tanvir Rahman, a lawyer at law firm Philippatos.
Wall Street rivals such as Goldman Sachs and Bank of America are handing out bonuses, perhaps half, to layoffs of bankers and traders toward the end of the year, one of the people said. That's what it means.
A Barclays spokesperson supported the decision.
“We regularly review our talent pool to ensure we are best positioned for long-term success in investing in our people, delivering results for our clients, and executing our strategy.” a representative told the Post.
Some of the fired bankers are considering suing for more than $10 million, according to people familiar with the matter.
They are likely to argue that the bonuses are earned year-round and are not discretionary, the people said.
Mr. Rahman said that while it often ends up in arbitration with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), winning a lawsuit can be difficult.
“Banks often stipulate in collective bargaining agreements that you must be employed at the time of the bonus to receive it,” Rahman says.
Barclays, which has more than 13,000 employees in the U.S., did not pay bonuses to dozens of bankers last year and cut bonuses across the bank by 43% in 2023 as profits fell. According to Financial News.
The paper added that lenders are expected to increase bonuses in some sectors by up to 20% this year as trading picks up.
Earlier this year, Barclays announced a three-year plan We aim to become a simpler, more efficient bank that does not rely on investment banking for the majority of our revenue.
