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Standard Chartered Ordered to Pay Banker It Fired on First Day
By Andrea Tan
April 22 (Bloomberg) -- Standard Chartered Plc was ordered by Singapore’s High Court to pay Fermin Aldabe for wrongful dismissal after the lender’s global senior risk manager said he would resign on his first day on the job.
The London-based bank must pay Aldabe at least S$40,333 ($29,384) including one month’s salary of S$27,500 and his wage from Nov. 17 to Nov. 30, 2008, Justice Steven Chong said in his judgment today. Aldabe was fired after saying he’d resign when told he wouldn’t be paid for a two-week period before the start date stipulated in his offer letter.
While Standard Chartered will also have to reimburse Aldabe his relocation costs to Singapore from Argentina, where he had been based, Judge Chong rejected his claim for S$1.54 million including losses for giving up another job opportunity. The judge described the sum as “astronomical and outrageous.”
“The court has found that Standard Chartered is not above the law and cannot withdraw from a contract without consequences,” Aldabe, now a senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Risk Management Institute, said in an e-mailed response today, adding that he was “very pleased” with the ruling.
Aldabe, 43, represented himself in the case.
Standard Chartered was “glad that a significant portion” of Aldabe’s claim was dismissed, the bank said. The ruling is a “substantial victory” as the bank successfully defended the claim of fraudulent misrepresentation, said Standard Chartered’s lawyer Herman Jeremiah from Rodyk & Davidson LLP.
Offer Withdrawn
The bank withdrew its letter of offer to Aldabe after the Italian said he intended to quit within hours of his first day at work on Dec. 1, 2008, prompting him to sue the bank.
Aldabe’s resignation wasn’t necessarily over-impulsive or capricious, Judge Chong wrote. The plaintiff explained in his submissions that he was working primarily for his bonus and not his base salary, the ruling said.
“He said that he could not continue to work for an organization, which, in his view, was not prepared to fulfill the terms of a written agreement when his discretionary bonus was riding on his oral understanding with management,” Chong said.
The relationship was “marred by a series of unfortunate events which set the stage for the dramatic turn of events on the first day he reported for work,” including a disagreement on the agreed salary, according to the ruling.
$200,000 Bonus
Aldabe’s agreed annual salary was $220,000, an additional target bonus of $170,000 and $30,000 in restricted shares. On Nov. 6, 2008, Standard Chartered informed Aldabe that his annual wage was S$323,400, based on an exchange rate of S$1.47.
Aldabe complained and the bank accepted his rate of S$1.5 instead, the court papers showed.
Standard Chartered “reacted to the intended resignation by wrongfully withdrawing the letter of offer,” Chong said in his ruling. Aldabe, who raised his claim to S$1.54 million from an initial S$123,800, was “also not altogether blameless in escalating the dispute,” he said.
The bulk of Aldabe’s “exaggerated claim was premised on the tort of fraudulent misrepresentation in circumstances when it was plain and obvious that there was neither a factual or legal basis to support it,” according to the judgment. “Each of them was a non-starter.”
The case is Aldabe Fermin v Standard Chartered Bank 174/2009/B in the Singapore High Court.
To contact the reporter on this story: Andrea Tan in Singapore at [email protected]
Last Updated: April 22, 2010 07:10 EDT
By Andrea Tan
April 22 (Bloomberg) -- Standard Chartered Plc was ordered by Singapore’s High Court to pay Fermin Aldabe for wrongful dismissal after the lender’s global senior risk manager said he would resign on his first day on the job.
The London-based bank must pay Aldabe at least S$40,333 ($29,384) including one month’s salary of S$27,500 and his wage from Nov. 17 to Nov. 30, 2008, Justice Steven Chong said in his judgment today. Aldabe was fired after saying he’d resign when told he wouldn’t be paid for a two-week period before the start date stipulated in his offer letter.
While Standard Chartered will also have to reimburse Aldabe his relocation costs to Singapore from Argentina, where he had been based, Judge Chong rejected his claim for S$1.54 million including losses for giving up another job opportunity. The judge described the sum as “astronomical and outrageous.”
“The court has found that Standard Chartered is not above the law and cannot withdraw from a contract without consequences,” Aldabe, now a senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Risk Management Institute, said in an e-mailed response today, adding that he was “very pleased” with the ruling.
Aldabe, 43, represented himself in the case.
Standard Chartered was “glad that a significant portion” of Aldabe’s claim was dismissed, the bank said. The ruling is a “substantial victory” as the bank successfully defended the claim of fraudulent misrepresentation, said Standard Chartered’s lawyer Herman Jeremiah from Rodyk & Davidson LLP.
Offer Withdrawn
The bank withdrew its letter of offer to Aldabe after the Italian said he intended to quit within hours of his first day at work on Dec. 1, 2008, prompting him to sue the bank.
Aldabe’s resignation wasn’t necessarily over-impulsive or capricious, Judge Chong wrote. The plaintiff explained in his submissions that he was working primarily for his bonus and not his base salary, the ruling said.
“He said that he could not continue to work for an organization, which, in his view, was not prepared to fulfill the terms of a written agreement when his discretionary bonus was riding on his oral understanding with management,” Chong said.
The relationship was “marred by a series of unfortunate events which set the stage for the dramatic turn of events on the first day he reported for work,” including a disagreement on the agreed salary, according to the ruling.
$200,000 Bonus
Aldabe’s agreed annual salary was $220,000, an additional target bonus of $170,000 and $30,000 in restricted shares. On Nov. 6, 2008, Standard Chartered informed Aldabe that his annual wage was S$323,400, based on an exchange rate of S$1.47.
Aldabe complained and the bank accepted his rate of S$1.5 instead, the court papers showed.
Standard Chartered “reacted to the intended resignation by wrongfully withdrawing the letter of offer,” Chong said in his ruling. Aldabe, who raised his claim to S$1.54 million from an initial S$123,800, was “also not altogether blameless in escalating the dispute,” he said.
The bulk of Aldabe’s “exaggerated claim was premised on the tort of fraudulent misrepresentation in circumstances when it was plain and obvious that there was neither a factual or legal basis to support it,” according to the judgment. “Each of them was a non-starter.”
The case is Aldabe Fermin v Standard Chartered Bank 174/2009/B in the Singapore High Court.
To contact the reporter on this story: Andrea Tan in Singapore at [email protected]
Last Updated: April 22, 2010 07:10 EDT
