Banker sued bosses because he only got a £300,000 bonus

A banker sued his bosses for firing him after he became ‘infuriated’ at being given a ‘mere’ £300,000 bonus.

Fabio Filippi was on a basic salary of £210,000 and was used to getting bonuses of up to £700,000 from BNP Paribas London.

He got that top sum in 2009 when he and his team brought in between £8 million to £17 million in revenue for the French bank.

Between 2009 and 2016, Fabio made an eyewatering £3.25 million in bonuses alone.

But his bosses sat him down in March 2017 to tell him his bonus would only be £300,000.

Fabio had relocated to Milan to head a sales team in the Italian city in 2012 and his outputs had reportedly decreased over the years.

A report said: [Fabio] was spending less time maintaining existing client relationships, his team had evolved and could function equally well without him, some members of his team had complained about his style of management and he was an expensive resource.’

A London Central tribunal heard how Fabio shouted that he was being ‘treated unfairly because he was not French or based in Paris’.

He said he was ‘the best manager’ and ‘could find a new job in a matter of days’ and then left the meeting without saying ‘goodbye’ or ‘thank you’.

After bosses felt there was no improvement in Fabio’s performance, the company decided to fire him in 2018.

‘They recognised his historic contribution to the business but his role in the team no longer made sense from a business perspective,’ a report said.

Fabio accused the bank of sacking him because he had been involved in whistleblowing against it in 2010, 2014 and 2016.

But employment judge Harjit Grewal said this ‘played no part in the decision to terminate [Fabio’s] employment’, ruling the banker was not unfairly dismissed.

Judge Grewal said Fabio getting fired was due to his ‘failure to take on board and act on the feedback given to him’.

He said: ‘[Fabio] was an expensive resource who was seen as adding no value to the team at that stage.

‘He was a very highly paid employee and BNP Paribas was entitled to expect him to deliver to a high standard to justify that level of remuneration.

‘BNP Paribas had made it clear to him at the end of 2016 the areas in which he had fallen below the standards expected and the improvement that it expected to see.

‘His reaction to the bonus made it clear that he continued to expect the same high levels of remuneration without addressing the concerns that had been raised.’

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