A Federal Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) arbitration panel recently ordered Wedbush Securities to pay a former municipal trader $3.5 Million Dollars related to his claims that it failed to pay him for a year’s worth of incentive based compensation. The FINRA panel specifically noted “Wedbush Morgan’s morally reprehensible failure in refusing to compensate Claimant in a timely fashion.”
The Panel also indicated “that a major cause of this dispute is a poorly written and ambiguous employment contract and corporate management structure that required personal approval from the majority shareholder of Respondent’s stock, Edward W. Wedbush, for all incentive payments to senior employees which approval was routinely withheld.” According to a recent article in Investment News, Wedbush plans to appeal the ruling.
According to Pratt H. Davis, a partner at the securities litigation and arbitration firm Page Perry, “this award evidences the fact that FINRA panels are willing to award significant sums to brokers when there is clear evidence that the brokerage firm is not adhering to its obligations regarding compensation. ”
Page Perry routinely handles a wide variety of employment law matters. The firm’s employment law services range from drafting or advising clients about employment agreements and related documents to litigating or arbitrating employment related disputes. Over the years, the firm has developed particular experience and knowledge in dealing with employment law disputes associated with the securities and financial services industries.
Page Perry attorneys have successfully handled employment law disputes involving restrictive covenants and non-compete agreements, confidentiality agreements, employee bonuses and loans, constructive termination, stock option agreements, age, race and gender discrimination, and severance packages.
Page Perry is an Atlanta-based law firm with an active practice in representing individuals in employment disputes with firms in the financial services industry. In the past several years, the firm has won arbitration award for clients in employment disputes in the amounts of $1.7 and $3.9 million. For further information, please contact www.pageperry.com.