When a currency trader recently turned down an opportunity to work for Jamie Dimon’s JPMorgan Chase, it wasn’t so much a matter of what’s the point, but where’s the point.
Swiss trader Kai Herbert jumped at the job offer in June 2010 — complete with its promised salary of $3.1 million.
But before he even showed up for his first day of work, JPMorgan said the contract contained a typo — the decimal point was in the wrong place.
The pay was really $310,000 a year.
So Herbert, who had already quit his job at UBS in anticipation of the much-better paying job, sued the bank.
His case went to trial this week in London.
“That must have been the moment your heart sank,” said Judge Henry Globe, referring to the moment he discovered the decimal point error, according to Bloomberg News.
Herbert said he agreed to move to South Africa from Switzerland for the job and has been largely unemployed since he quit UBS.
He is suing for $920,000.
Herbert worked for eight months at Credit Suisse Group but was let go in a round of cutbacks in November, he said.
In cross-examination, a lawyer for JP Morgan scoffed at his naiveté for believing he would earn $3.1 million a year.
“How can you possibly suggest that they would pay you so much money for an executive director level job?” Charles Ciumei said, according to Bloomberg.
He said Herbert could have made up for at least some of his losses by taking the position at JPMorgan Chase — even at the lower salary.
Banks have been cutting jobs since last year amid sagging trading revenues.
Banks have also been spinning off their proprietary trading desks to comply with widespread financial regulations enacted in the wake of the housing crisis.
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