Banker Refuses to Work For $310,000 Base Salary & Sues JPMorgan For $920,000
by Beth Connolly on March 23, 2012
Yes, you read that correctly.
In June 2010, Switzerland-based currency trader Kai Herbert happily resigned from his current position at UBS and accepted an offer from JPMorgan Chase at its Johannesburg branch–to the tune of $3.1 million (24 million rand) base salary per year.
Or…wait a minute. $3.1 mill a year? For an “executive-director level position”? Not so fast. JPMorgan had made a “typographical error” on Mr. Herbert’s contract, accidentally magnifying the amount of his actual salary ($310,000, or 2.4 million rand) by tenfold.
Was salary not part of a face-to-face or at least phone discussion between Mr. Herbert and JPMorgan? One would think that both parties would have some idea of a ballpark figure before the offer was made in writing. Either way, one would also think that JPMorgan employees ought to be in the habit of double-checking the placement of that pesky little dot known as the “decimal point.”
How dare JPMorgan expect Mr. Herbert to work for a measly $310,000 a year? Incensed and indignant (at least as I imagine him), Mr. Herbert refused to show up for work.
He must have been a pretty big deal, because JPMorgan waited six months to rescind his offer of employment. Hypothetically speaking, if Mr. Herbert had had a change of heart in, say, November 2010, after being unemployed for five months (shockingly, he couldn’t find another employer to match JPMorgan’s initial offer), he could have showed up bright and chipper in Johannesburg and started collecting his paycheck. His first would have been roughly $59,615, were he paid each week.
No, convinced of his own inimitable self-worth, Mr. Herbert waited and waited to get another job equal to his value. He did accept an offer from Credit Suisse in 2011 (salary unknown), but they laid him off after only eight months.
Since JPMorgan wouldn’t take him back, even at the actual salary they asked him, he is suing them for $920,000–roughly the amount he would have earned had he worked there for the past 3 years.
Meanwhile, JPMorgan is conducting a thorough review of all internal communications to discover whether or not one of the secretaries assigned to typing up Mr. Herbert’s contract had a crush on him.*
*Just kidding.
6 comments
Poor Baby !
by Tom Anderson on March 25, 2012 at 5:45 pm. #
So- No one in the executive suite (or HR) bothers to look at any document they are signing?
No wonder Wall Street is constantly at risk of melting down.
by Randall W on March 27, 2012 at 4:06 pm. #
Hahahaha, only in banking do you find such incredible stories. Forget the starving children in Africa – we’ve got more important matters at hand to deal with, like fixing this man’s salary ASAP. Offering a $310,000 base salary? How dare we!
by Lekha Ravi on March 28, 2012 at 12:15 am. #
It is just an incredible story. At my level I have to go through, reference checks, showing copy of my degrees, and a set of minimum 2 or 3 face to face interviews each for an hour/hour and half.
I wonder did they even meet each other in person (JPMorgan and Mr. Herbert)? Was the salary even discussed during the final negotiation? And where was JPMorgan’s HR?
A sad story in a very sad global economy!
by Andrea Setayesh on March 30, 2012 at 5:00 am. #
I am asking myself the same questions…. this is indeed an incredible story! Perhaps business women like me and Andrea Setayesh are focus on details! I am currently working in a HR department and I wish I could give a proper interview to that Mr. Herbert!!
by Jane Wilson on May 23, 2012 at 10:19 am. #
Seems that you can’t trust anybody these days. The letter in writing would clearly be honored by JPMorgan and his new boss. He should have just framed the letter and flown in and started. Instead he tried to parlay the error into a real offer higher than what they were really offering. Can’t say I blame him for being an optimist…heck Citi or Goldman might have offered Half that….when he faxed them his offer letter.
They also might have laughed and used it in there next salary reviews for current staff.
by Mark Rittmayer on March 31, 2012 at 12:51 pm. #