By Kirstin Ridley
LONDON (Reuters) - A former London-based Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) banker alleges he was unfairly dismissed with a "woeful" lack of proper procedure after whistleblowing on 10 occasions and that he was forced to deal with "vile and bullying language".
Thomas Doyle, the former EMEA head of synthetic swap sales, alleges he was fired in 2021 with no warning letter or proper performance management and was told he was "causing disruption and conflict", a court document seen by Reuters on Monday showed.
Doyle, who says he joined Goldman in December 2018 with an exemplary market reputation, named Goldman Sachs International and four senior Goldman bankers in a lawsuit being heard in the Central London employment tribunal. Employment lawsuits come to trial relatively rarely in London, as the vast majority are settled before they come to court.
A Goldman Sachs spokesperson dismissed the allegations as unfounded and said the case would be "resolutely contested".
Doyle, who appeared in court on crutches with a leg in a cast, declined to comment.
The banker alleges he was dismissed in 2021 shortly after receiving a $218,223 bonus after raising a series of regulatory red flags with senior and compliance colleagues because he thought the bank had failed, or risked failing, to treat customers fairly and provide suitable advice.
Doyle also alleges he and others were repeatedly shouted at, that a managing partner told him he was fabricating information when he complained that he and his team were being excluded at work and that he was sworn at five times in one meeting at least.
In the filing, Doyle alleges the managing partner said subsequently that he did not think he would have used expletives in a management meeting. But the manager accepted he had told Doyle to stop behaving like a child, using another expletive, the filing alleged.
By October 2020, Doyle's colleagues were sending texts about whether he should be subject to a so-called Strategic Resource Assessment (SRA), which is a Goldman headcount reduction exercise that tends to take place annually, the filings alleged.
A senior manager emailed Doyle the following January and said he was disruptive and that his employment would be terminated. But Goldman only called him into a meeting after he was told his employment was effectively over, Doyle alleges.
He was given formal notice in April 2021 and dismissed that July.
The tribunal hearing, which is scheduled to last 13 days, will establish whether the bank is liable. Should Doyle win this stage of his case, a further hearing will establish the level of any damages.