Ex-UBS Employee Can Proceed with Her Whistleblower Claim, Says District Court

The U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut says that ex-UBS (UBS) employee Mary Barker’s whistleblower claim alleging that she was retaliated against for she reporting a purported accounting mistake can move forward. Her Age Discrimination in Employment Act claim, however, was dismissed.

Barker, who used to work UBS’s Stamford, Conn. Office, was given the responsibility of reconciling UBS’s existing exchange seat shares with old company records in December 2006. The valuation had to take place because UBS’s holdings of exchange seat assets were redistributed after the Commodity Exchange Inc. and the New York Mercantile Exchange merged.

Barker allegedly found that some of UBS’s historical exchange seat holdings had either not been accounted for or had been improperly accounted on the financial firm’s balance sheet. UBS went on to realize that about $80 million from the sale of exchange seats had been overlooked.

Barker told her manager about the brokerage firm’s alleged failure to disclose the seat holdings in February 2007. She says that not only did her manager fail to report her findings, which violated federal securities laws, to upper management, but also, her worries were never addressed. She says that her interactions with other UBS officials over the matter were similarly unsatisfying.

Despite getting a “Thank You Award” for her efforts, Barker says that UBS began to take retaliatory action against her. Not only did she get a poor review rating that year and fail to get a salary bump the following year, but also she was passed over for a promotion and her complaints were disregarded. In May 2008, Barker was told that the financial firm was letting her go due to a general reduction in UBS’ workforce.

Related Web Resource:
Barker v. UBS AG

More Blogs on Whistleblower Cases:

Why Whistleblowers Should Act Quickly and Consult Competent Legal Counsel, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, December 18, 2010

Whistleblower Sues Moody’s Investors Service for Defamation, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, September 15, 2010

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