Thread regarding Bank of New York Mellon Corp. layoffs

Dwecklaw.com - Ask for Sean…..he has has multiple cases with BNY….and is really good.

This is so your business line doesn’t have to pay.

Parker Pohl who is representing an ex BNY employee has a trial date scheduled for next month in NYC

@v0+1jr8tqmq5
Not to be picky, but it’s only ‘free’ if your legal team does not win or gets no recovery. You simply arent paying out of pocket up front is all. But if you and your team win in court or by settlement or arbitration, you will ‘pay’. Out of the award you can be responsible to pay up to 1/3 of the amount to the attorneys. Either way, something is better than nothing. Nothing on Earth is free not even Robin’s cr-ppy coffee.

You do need to pay ordinary income tax on the proceeds in most cases*
Oh yes you do. If it is wrongful termination, income denied or wrongfully withheld you will pay Fed and State on it. Unless you get this judgment as a personal injury or for sickness and emotional distress. Recovery of lost income or punitive damages is usually always taxable. Folks, make sure you nail this down with your legal counsel. Also ask if taxable if would be responsible for all the amount portion paid to your lawyer- you usually do.

To answer the questions on my post, yes, there are attorneys fees as a subsequent poster pointed out. Can be hourly or contingent depending on the attorney. You do need to pay ordinary income tax on the proceeds in most cases. The process did not take long for me personally. Did not go to court although had BNY not been responsive, it would have. It sounds like others are finding success or in process as well. Some of the comments in this string around not being able to do anything and BNY has better attorneys than you, etc are simply speculative and not accurate. That place is a disorganized mess. They are hoping you go away without a fight and sounds like many do. Go after them!

As mentioned earlier age discrimination and retaliation are protected classes. If this applies to you, you can file an EEOC complaint. They will review your complaint, set up a call with you to discuss, investigate, and can arrange mediation between you and BNY. This can be done with or without a lawyer

@rq+1jr8tqmq5 I’m not the person who received a year of pay. However I am involved in a legal matter w BNY. Here’s what I’ve learned.

Lawyers have many different fee schedules and approaches. Some firms offered free intake sessions, while others charged an hourly rate. I found both to be helpful. They will explain the law in more detail, the process, how they would approach the case, some of their strategies, timing, etc.

Some firms offered to take my case for “free”. Free because I wouldn’t have to pay anything out of pocket. However they would receive a percentage of any $ awarded. With this structure their percentage typically increases once they have to file anything in court.

Another firm offered a flat rate. Based on their experience they were fairly confident for around $4,500 they could get me x amount in severance. They were willing to consider taking it to court but were most interested in making a settlement happen quickly.

Another firm had an hourly fee schedule of around $600/hr. They were willing to work towards a settlement or take it all the way to trial. They said I could expect it to cost tens of thousands of dollars.

@r1+1jr8tqmq5
You were paid for one year. What were the attorneys fees? What did you pay in taxes since this was income based? How long did this take from start to finish? Did you need to sign any NDA with BNY after this? It sounds like this settled out of court?

Hi, I was in a similar situation as the original poster. I hired an attorney and it worked. I was paid for a year after a lot of back and forth. Age discrimination and retaliation are considered protected classes. Their not paying severance under the guise of bogus performance reviews is not illegal but would look bad if ever went to court or arbitration. I would encourage any long tenured employee to go after them. I believe a lot are. They (BNY) have representation from Reed Smith working on this full time. Not enough in house council to deal with it.

We need another way to discuss outside Of this monitored sire. Suggestions?

Vladeck Raskin & Clark - 212-403-7300 is another NYC firm that is currently representing an ex BNY employee. The ex employee had a long tenure w the bank, is over 40yrs old, and is alleging discrimination and retaliation.

Was anyone laid of this week given 2 weeks pay ?

Here are a few law firms in NY that are currently representing ex BNY employees or that have recently settled w ex BNY employees

NY
Parker Pohl 212-203-8915
Goodstadt law group 516-307-1880
Filippatos 914-984-1111
Outten & Golden 212-245-1000
HKM 212-439-5127

OP where are you located ? New York, Pittsburgh ????

: @f5+1jr8tqmq5

Also sorry to hear this but thank your lucky stars it was 2024 and you received SUB pay. Atmosphere is so much worse now, if you can believe it. They updated the Severance plan this year and no one below a Meets is eligible for severance. If they’re let go now they get nothing. And I personally know of 3 Senior VPs 20-30 years of service, all in the same LOB, all very knowledgeable and respected by their teams, all rated below a Meets and shown the door with NOTHING.

Same thing happened to me. 20+ year employee, never rated anything but met or exceeds, including at 2024 mid-year. Then out of nowhere, got two partially mets and was shown the door with no severance. Keep this thread alive and post similar experiences.

hw+1jr8tqmq5
If you have a good law firm looking into this share the # contact here
It would help your case when the see a high number pattern of the same infraction

Has anyone received a Partially Met (PM) rating and still received an incentive award ? If so, were you let go following the PM? Does any BNY policy state anything about incentive pay tied to performance?

I’m sorry this happened to you. Based on my experience in retaining a lawyer and filing suit against bny, it was easier to do this as an individual despite knowing there were many others who experienced similar situations.

@em+1jr8tqmq5 - obviously Hr wouldn't be sued it would BNY. And yes they have been sued which is why they hustle to offer all these new separation packages even for the most obvious of cr-ppy employees

@fh+1jr8tqmq5
Terrible and I am sorry. Were you in technology? Custody or accounting? I would bet this nincompoop of a manager was a recent DEI hire and brought nothing but loud nonsense, lies and combativeness. She sounds like she refused to use you as counsel but instead wanted to eliminate you to hire her own flunkies. It is a sad and despicable theme that repeats here. You are not the only one. I am 56 and looking to go back to programming when my date with the hangman inevitably comes. I am already taking training and will not waste my time trying to impress that on any of the useless lunk heads here. I think you can find something as you are good. Your problem was only that you cost too much and werent allowed to play the game by the rules of this creepshow. You were a threat. Good luck.

Thank you. I was crushed. I fought it til the end. HR was useless - just another frustration in this ugly process. You bet I wish ill will (and more) but more so for the narcissistic manager who harassed me during my time reporting to her. BNY, however, allowed her to do what she did. A company I was always proud to work for, but not after this treatment.

f5+1jr8tqmq5
30 years is proof you were the best at your job and more capable than anyone. For them to all of a sudden make you out to be some kind of sch-muck that wasn’t getting job done is just hateful and cheap. 30 years of living and being a part of this place. I bet you wish ill will on it now. I would.

I can’t imagine how pi---d off you are. I was RIFd in 2024 after 30 years of service. I was falsely given a PM rating on my year end review (first in 30 years) - preventing me from being rehired for 5 years. I received the full SUB pay. 60+ years of age and finding it’s basically impossible to gain similar employment. No one wants to hire someone 60+ years of age. I’m still pi---d.

I am going through the same situation. How can you share more information if you speak with a lawyer? I am also planning to speak with a lawyer.

@e7+1jr8tqmq5
LOL. HR isn’t going to be sued. It would be BNY. And you know what? You will grow very very old with this. And in the end you would be lucky even to settle. All the denials, motions to deny, motions for time , appeals and review for such an individual small amount. No sane attorney would touch this and devote time and effort. And no sane manager is going to expose themself like that with testimony. Unless you have something major like the bank purposely harming you, then there is nothing. As one poster said, its not fair but the bank is an at will employer. So unless you have direct proof of harm, bad faith and neglect and can show it, then its never going to work. And even if you do, it would be years before it comes to a head. About the only class action thing you can prove here is diarrhea from the free coffee….

Everyone should file a complaint with the U.S Department of Labor.

Funny how people think having a "good lawyer" has much to do with any case. The law is the biggest factor followed by cost and venue.

Trust me you arent wasting your time. HR is very big on pleasing the employee when they can to avoid being sued. Get yourself some mgrs willing to testify or write statements on your behalf about what they forced to do when it comes to performance and rating below. Or go as far as having someone summned and forced to speak. Just dont make it easy in them to be able to justify

Sad to say this is reported happening over and over most people (especially long tenured like the OP) let go are not receiving the specified severance (evidence discovery your attorneys will obtain) . The many employees I know impacted were all good performers (not RTO resisting) now victims of HR fraud a fake required forced ratings PIP with made up PM. HR needs to revert course and pay out vital severance for RIF actions. OP wish you well you have much support for the class action. This isn't right what is happening and we all seeing the fraud being played out.

Were you rated below expectations for year end 2024 and then let go recently? If so did they do a PIP or anything as far as a performance plan?

@at+1jr8tqmq5
Amen…. Say it again: Amen.
BNY may not be much good with innovation, software and staying on top of client expectations, but it sure as h-3ll has a world class legal tier. If you have some country lawyer or quick hit law firm, you will waste your time. Your own lawyers may not even touch it since they wont invest in a lengthy time with such a little return. And…… in blue venues like NYC - BNY’s home headquarter turf- do you expect fairness or sympathy from a company which pays the legal system and taxes there???? Aint saying it’s right. Aint saying I agree with BNY and I dont. Just saying, the 1980 US Hockey team and David beating Goliath faced easier odds than you would. Even if you have something, it will settle and you & BNY will never see court.

I’ve personally printed out the emails for rating below and handled to an employee we had to terminate. I don’t care either. I hope they take all to court and summon me. I’ll tell the court how it is for us managers. Paper trail is everything. Managers for your safety please print out the emails about rating BE and RIF.

I hate to say this, but their lawyers are better than yours. One of the things I learned as a manager is that their policies for getting rid of people will stand up in court. Unless the manager didn't follow the policies, which is unlikely because HR reviews terminations before they happen, whatever they did to you will stand up in court.

This place is run by dirty sc-mbags & a bunch of water carrying yes men are contributing to their dirty work.

Please keep us posted.

if anyone hasn’t been in this ops situation, you’re guaranteed to be at some point.

i’m sure that’s what they are planning to do for me. Even saw the initiative to layoff for “cause”. as opposed to RIF, which will invoke severance !