However, the tribunal says this was because he failed to act on feedback given to him
A former employee of BNP Paribas London lost his unfair dismissal case against his employer, who he previously accused of unfair treatment after receiving a "mere" £300,000 bonus.
The said employee had rendered his services for the bank since 1999, successfully climbing his way up to senior positions in the organisation and delivering millions in revenue for the bank.
The London Central Employment Tribunal heard that he earned a massive £3.25 million in bonuses between 2009 and 2016.
By December 2013, he relocated to Milan to be the Head of Structured Equity Sales for Italy, before later becoming the Head of Distribution Retail Sales in January 2014. That March on the same year, he was awarded a bonus of £423,923 for 2013, the tribunal heard.
But by 2016, his bosses that BNP Paribas observed that his work performance started to decline, and he received an overall performance rating that was lower than what he received in the previous two years.
The employee received an explanation from his bosses regarding his ratings, but the tribunal was told that he was "unhappy with his rating and did not agree with the feedback given to him."
For 2016, the employee was granted a bonus worth €400,000 (£300,000) bonus, which was lower that what he received the previous year. The tribunal further heard that while all bonus awards were lower that year, the employee's unsatisfactory performance was also considered.
The employee, however, was allegedly "infuriated" with his "mere" £300,000 bonus when he was informed about it, the tribunal heard. He reportedly "shouted" at his bosses alleging that he was being "treated unfairly because he was not French and not based in Paris."
"He said he was the best manager among his peers as evidenced by the performance of his team and that if he wanted to, he could find a new job in a matter of a few days," the court heard. "He left the meeting without saying 'goodbye' or 'thank you.'"
The tribunal also heard that the employee's bosses continued to observe his performance in 2017, and said they found no evidence of improvement.
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"He was an expensive resource," the tribunal was told. "And it was not clear what value he was adding to what the team was producing."
He was then told in May 2017 that the team would be restructure without his role, and that he has six months to find a new one. The employee officially left in 2018, after the bank repatriated him back to London.
In his complaint to the tribunal, the employee accused the bank of terminating him after whistleblowing against it in the past.
Court decision
In the ruling, Employment Judge Harjit Grewal sided with the employer for their reason to terminate the employee, saying the employee's protected disclosures in the past "played no part in the decision to terminate his employment."
The tribunal then ruled that the employer was reasonable in dismissing the employee, stressing that this was because of his failure to "act on the feedback given to him."
"The Claimant's failure to take on board and act on the feedback given to him at the appraisal and his reaction to the bonus made it clear that the Claimant continued to expect the same high levels of remuneration without addressing the concerns that had been raised," said the ruling.
