HSBC to compensate employee who reportedly stole client's information

Looks like labour laws in France are repeatedly coming under scrutiny these days.

Following headlines that a facility manager sued his company for allegedly giving him a boring job, a former trader has sued HSBC for unfair dismissal, despite the fact that he allegedly stole client's information.

According to a report from Bloomberg, ex-trader Ben Lazimy was reportedly dismissed for sending 1,400-page of spreadsheets with HSBC’s equities transactions in 2010, a list that included client names and margins to his personal Yahoo! Inc. e-mail address.

The report added that following his termination, Lazimy sued the bank for unfair dismissal and sought 2.3 million euros in compensation in April.

HSBC lawyer, Clarisse Lebigot, told a Paris employment tribunal the data which Lazimy took was confidential and key to the business.

She called his request for 2.3 million euros “absurd” for someone who had worked at the bank for less than six years.

In the Bloomberg article, Lazimy’s lawyer, Jamila El Berry, said the e-mail incident was “an excuse” to fire him, the information which her client took was widely available within the bank -- even to interns.

Hence, he didn’t breach professional secrecy as the document never got into any outsider’s hands.

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Berry told the tribunal her client went from being praised by management and rising to the position of director to getting negative evaluations, a salary freeze, no bonuses and a reduction to his responsibilities, after he refused to be relocated from Paris to London amid a restructuring within the bank.

The tribunals handed down the ruling on Monday, awarding him just 56,300 euros (HK$500,000) , a case which his lawyer planned to appeal, Bloomberg reported.

Berry said she is “surprised that the arguments on the moral harassment were dismissed as they were serious and well founded.”

She also said the level of compensation awarded by the court to make up for unpaid overtime work is insufficient.

HSBC said it is awaiting the notification of the ruling before taking a decision.

The bank is particularly sensitive about the issue after the high profile case of former employee Herve Falciani was accused of allegedly stealing clients' information.

Image: 123RF