Two California Men Win $7.6 Million Wrongful Discharge Claim Against Goldman Sachs

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- A panel of securities industry arbitrators has unanimously ordered investment giant Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) to pay more than $7.6 million for wrongful discharge and violating USERRA, the federal law that protects military personnel from workplace harassment and retaliation. The award by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority on Dec. 5 is believed to be the largest wrongful discharge arbitration award ever rendered against Goldman Sachs in favor of a financial advisor/broker.

Los Angeles residents Chris Barra and Luis Sampedro claimed that Goldman Sachs retaliated against them, created a hostile work environment, and unlawfully forfeited earned commissions. Both men worked for Goldman Sachs for nine years until the company fired them in 2007. When Barra and Sampedro quickly found jobs at UBS, Goldman forfeited all of their deferred compensation because they did not give 60 days' notice before starting work elsewhere. 

Among the evidence heard by the panel was that Barra, a 47-year-old West Point graduate and Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserves, was chastised and retaliated against by Goldman Sach's Los Angeles Branch Manager for going on reserve duty. Less than a year later they were both fired.  After becoming a financial advisor for his current employer, UBS Financial Services, Barra was called to active duty and saw combat action in Iraq for 174 days in 2008. After his tour of duty, Barra returned to his job at UBS without any problems.

While the two men were working at Goldman Sachs, the company restructured its compensation plan and began withholding a portion of financial advisors' commissions by converting them to restricted stock units that would pay out over time. The plan was described during the hearing as an example of "golden handcuffs" designed to keep financial advisors from taking their business to other firms.

"This ruling establishes that my clients earned these commissions and their pay cannot be forfeited under California law," says employment law and FINRA attorney Rogge Dunn of Clouse Dunn LLP in Dallas, who represented the men. "It should also serve as a warning to companies that you cannot treat members of the military differently than other employees or discourage them from taking military leave."

The panel's ruling includes more than $5.2 million in compensatory damages, $2 million in punitive damages and $100,000 in damages for violating USERRA, the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act.

Barra and Sampedro currently are top producers in the Los Angeles office of UBS and are among the company's top 2 percent of financial advisors nationwide.

This is the third million-dollar award Dunn has won against Goldman Sachs for employment law violations. In 2006, an arbitration panel awarded $2.6 million to a financial advisor who worked in the company's San Francisco office. In 2008, Dunn won a $1 million award for a financial advisor who worked in its Los Angeles office.

Dunn regularly represents financial advisors and executives in the brokerage industry, in addition to handling other complex business and employment disputes.

For more information on the ruling, contact Barry Pound at 800-559-4534 or [email protected].

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SOURCE Clouse Dunn LLP

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