Fired JPMorgan trader settles suit instead of getting job back

JPMorgan Chase agreed to settle a dispute with a London trader it fired during a spoofing probe and then refused to rehire after a judge said the investment bank had to give him his job back.

Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

Bradley Jones, a cash equities trader, won an unfair dismissal case last year after a London judge found he was only fired in the investigation to appease regulators. In a rare case at a U.K. employment tribunal, the bank was ordered to rehire him into a different role in Hong Kong similar to his $675,000-a-year London position. As part of the reinstatement, the bank was also told to hand over millions in lost earnings.

A hearing at a London employment tribunal was scheduled to take place this week to decide a remedy after the bank failed to rehire him into the position. However, Judge Stephen Knight said at the start of a hearing Tuesday that Jones and the bank had "reached a settlement on confidential terms," and the case was dismissed.

Jones's situation echoes a similar case in 2019 when a London tribunal ordered Barclays to rehire trader David Fotheringhame. The bank refused to take him back and had to pay him nearly £1 million ($1.1 million) pounds in lost earnings as a consequence. Unfair dismissal claims are usually capped at over £93,000.

Jones and a spokesperson for JPMorgan declined to comment.