Goldman Sachs & Co. announced Wednesday it is weighing an appeal of a $7.6 million award to a pair of Los Angeles brokers, one of whom is an Army Reserves lieutenant colonel who claimed he was fired and retaliated against by a supervisor for being on reserve duty.
A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel last Friday made findings of wrongful termination and discrimination against military personnel. Chris Barra and Luis Sampedro were awarded $5.2 million in compensatory damages and $2 million in punitive damages, and Barra was additionally granted $100,000 for the discrimination offense, according to their lawyer, Rogge Dunn.
Goldman spokesman Andrew Williams disputed allegations that the company mistreated military personnel.
“We do not believe that the law or the record remotely supports the finding on liability or the amount of damages awarded and we are considering our options, including an appeal,” Williams said in a statement emailed to City News Service.
“This case involves a dispute about termination of at will employment and forfeited equity for a breach of a contract,” he said. “Only a very small fraction of the award was associated with the veterans-related component of the case. We are proud of our programs for attracting and retaining veterans and we vigorously dispute the plaintiffs’ legal counsel calling our treatment of veterans into question.”
Barra and Sampedro, who worked as a team at Goldman for nine years until 2008 and now work for a unit of UBS Financial Services, filed the case in 2010.
Among the evidence heard by the panel was that Barra was chastised and retaliated against by Goldman’s Los Angeles branch manager for going on reserve duty, Dunn said.
Dunn said the ruling should 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.”
— City News Service