More than a dozen New York-based Barclays bankers and traders were fired just before the holidays — and they received coal in their stocking by being denied bonuses, The Post has learned.
The scrooges at Barclays, the UK-based lending giant, canned 15 Wall Street workers out of the roughly 50 it pink-slipped last month, two sources with close knowledge of the situation said.
None were given a bonus, the sources added, depriving them of a windfall since the majority of their compensation comes from the year-end bump.
For example, an investment banker might make a $200,000 salary and an expected $1 million bonus, one of the sources said.
One employment lawyer told The Post that while it is not unheard of for banks to fire workers late in the year, the fact that they were not giving a bonus is pretty heartless.
“A good employer will pay the bonus pro-rata for the amount of time worked during the year, but some don’t,” said Tanvir Rahman, an attorney for law firm Filippatos.
Rival Wall Street firms, including Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, award bonuses — perhaps half — when firing bankers and traders toward the end of the year, one of the sources said.
A spokesperson for Barclays stood by its decision.
“We regularly review our talent pool to ensure that we are investing in talent, delivering for clients and best positioned for long-term success as we execute against our strategy,” the rep told The Post.
Some of the fired bankers are considering filing $10 million-plus lawsuits, a source said.
They will likely contend that the bonus is earned throughout the year and is not discretionary, sources said.
Rahman said they may have a tough time winning their cases, though they often end up in arbitration with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
“The banks often in their labor agreements say you have to be employed at the time of the bonus to get your bonus,” Rahman said.
Barclays, which has more than 13,000 workers in the US, didn’t pay bonuses to dozens of bankers last year as revenue declined and cut bonuses by 43% across the bank in 2023, according to Financial News.
The lender was expected to increase bonuses by as much as 20% to some departments this year as dealmaking rebounded, the outlet added.
Earlier this year, Barclays announced a three-year plan to become a simpler and more efficient bank, in which it doesn’t rely on a large percentage of its revenue from investment banking.
Credit: Source link
