[HONG KONG] Two former Citigroup traders in Hong Kong abandoned their employment lawsuits after weighing the costs and difficulties of taking it to a higher court, sources familiar with the matter said.
Ex-Citi director Alrick Lee and Kenny Cheung, a former vice-president, agreed to drop their wrongful dismissal claims after a Labour Tribunal judge deemed their cases complex and offered to move them to the High Court, the sources said, asking not to be identified because they do not want to discuss the matter publicly.
The two, together with former director Christopher So, were seeking compensation for unpaid pension benefits and notice-period payments.
While the Labour Tribunal has no cap on claims, it can transfer cases over HK$3 million (S$495,997) involving complex issues to the higher courts. Litigating in the higher courts such as the District Court and the High Court is more costly because claimants are usually represented by qualified lawyers.
Email inquiries to the Labour Tribunal were not answered. Lee and Cheung declined to comment, while So could not immediately be reached. Ex-director James Gleeson, who also filed a claim in March, declined to comment on his case.
“We note the claims were withdrawn and have no further comment to make,” a Hong Kong-based spokesperson at Citigroup said.
The traders were among employees fired by the bank in 2019 after securities regulators identified problematic trading practices in Citigroup’s Asia markets division that had occurred over more than a decade.
The four traders filed their lawsuit right before a statutory deadline that requires labour dispute claims to be lodged within six years of an event such as job termination. It came after their ex-colleague Cindy Lui won a favourable ruling from the Labour Tribunal in December. Neither party was awarded costs.
The court granted her accrued pension and notice-period pay but refused damages for lost career prospects, a ruling it reaffirmed last Friday (May 16) after her review request, according to sources familiar with the matter. Citigroup and Lui declined to comment. BLOOMBERG
