Lehman Jan 13

Client Attorney Privileged/Attorney Work Product/At Request of Counsel

Mary Ortegon

1. Lehman Dodges Suit Over Firing, Unpaid Bonus In 2nd Circ.

   Jan 12, 2016 | Law360

   By Max Stendahl
   
   
   The Second Circuit on Tuesday refused to reinstate a suit claiming that Lehman Brothers fired an employee and wrongly failed to pay her a $350,000 bonus after learning that she had accused two previous employers of gender discrimination. A three-judge panel rejected an appeal by Mary Ortegon...

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Client Attorney Privileged/Attorney Work Product/At Request of Counsel

Mary Ortegon

1. Lehman Dodges Suit Over Firing, Unpaid Bonus In 2nd Circ.

   Jan 12, 2016 | Law360

   By Max Stendahl

   The Second Circuit on Tuesday refused to reinstate a suit claiming that Lehman Brothers fired an employee and wrongly failed to pay her a $350,000 bonus after learning that she had accused two previous employers of gender discrimination.
   

   A three-judge panel rejected an appeal by Mary Ortegon, a former business chief administrative officer in Lehman Brothers Inc.'s fixed income unit who argued that the investment bank reneged on its promise to pay her a guaranteed minimum bonus.

   Ortegon claimed that Lehman fired her three days after she signed an employment contract in January 2007 on the false grounds that she had failed to disclose her enrollment in an executive MBA program. In fact, Ortegon said, she suspected that Lehman had terminated her because it learned that she had filed gender discrimination claims against two previous employers, SBC Capital Markets Inc. and HSBC Securities (USA) Inc.

   Lehman's bankruptcy trustee, James Giddens, denied that allegation and argued that the bank had the right to rescind its employment offer at any time and for any reason. Giddens said the $350,000 payment was a performance bonus, not a guaranteed sign-on bonus, meaning that Ortegon would have been required to perform work at the bank — which she never did.

   The Second Circuit agreed with Giddens on Tuesday, saying that Ortegon never actually became an employee at Lehman. The panel said it was not persuaded by the fact that Ortegon "was ready and willing to perform and was prevented from doing so."

   "As the district court concluded, the contract clearly provides that the bonus is part of Ortegon's compensation for her performance, and not a signing bonus to which Ortegon became entitled simply by agreeing to work for LBI regardless whether she ever commenced performance," the panel wrote.

   Attorneys for Ortegon and Giddens could not be immediately reached for comment.

   Lehman collapsed in September 2008 at the height of the financial crisis. The company's bankruptcy filing was the largest in U.S. history.

   Giddens has distributed more than $7.6 billion to Lehman's creditors since July 2014...

   For full story: http://www.law360.com/articles/745580/lehman-dodges-suit-over-firing-unpaid-bonus-in-2nd-circ-
   

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