Sarasota law firm secures $1M wrongful termination award

A financial advisor represented by the Sarasota office of Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick who claims he was unjustifiably fired from UBS Financial Services in Idaho was recently awarded $1 million for compensatory damages. 

Randy Anderson had served as a financial advisor at the Boise branch of UBS for eight years when he was discharged in November 2020 for allegedly executing trades without client approval and failing to report a subsequent customer complaint, according to a statement from Shumaker.

Shumaker partners Jarrod Malone and Brandon Taaffe argued the termination was wrongful and pretextual, potentially driven by Anderson's age and speculation he might leave the firm, which the attorneys say was supported by inconsistencies from UBS during the arbitration.

"This case highlights an ever-present concern in the financial services industry — that an FA [financial advisor] could be fired over minor technical violations of compliance rules and policies established by broker dealers,” Malone says in a statement. "A termination in this industry without proper justification is devastating to an FA's business, setting off a chain of events that cause automatic FINRA investigations during which time other firms will not typically hire you."

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Dispute Resolution Services panel found that UBS “failed to present competent evidence of the actual reason for termination,” according to a statement from FINRA Dispute Resolution Services.

“Most troublingly,” the FINRA statement says, “it became clear that the individual [who UBS said fired Anderson] had long disagreed with the termination decision and only ‘agreed’ with it and executed after being informed of the decision actually made by more senior members of management, none of which were present at the hearing.”

A majority of the three-person FINRA arbitration panel agreed to award Anderson $1 million in damages, voting to modify the explanation of the incident in his FINRA BrokerCheck record and finding that Anderson, who was above 60 years at the time of termination, was discriminated against based on his age. One arbitrator dissented with the decision.

"Careers shouldn’t be derailed by speculation," Taaffe says in the statement. “This is an important win for fairness and transparency in the financial services industry. We’re proud to help clear our client’s name and hold firms accountable when they misuse internal processes to wrongly end someone’s career.” 

Anderson is currently employed at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. in Boise. He has been registered with the firm since December 2020, according to BrokerCheck.

UBS is headquartered in Switzerland. A spokesperson for UBS tells Investment News the company disagrees with the decision and is "considering its options.”