NY brokerage firm gets sued by former employee over alleged water-throwing initiation at UK unit

A former broker for BGC Partners Inc has sued his previous employer over allegations that he received abuse at the firm for not taking part in the company's initiation ritual that he had termed "boorish."

Ex-head of basis swaps desk Robert Bou-Simon claimed that he was the receiving end of a campaign of abuse by colleagues and managers at the firm when he had refused to undergo "the run," which he said, requires new brokers to rn across the trading floor while others throw water at them following their first trade. Bou-Simon also said that he was taunted at the firm because he favored sports teams that appeared to be frowned upon by his former co-workers. His witness statement at a UK employment tribunal also said that the continuous mistreatment he received at the firm resulted into a forced resignation.

In his witness statement, Bou-Simon cited an incident wherein UK general manager Mark Webster tried to force him out of the company by subjecting him with disciplinary investigations and by offering the complainant a transfer to a company unit called MINT that was unsuitable for him.

Bloomberg observed that staff disputes at brokerage firms have now escalated to high-profile battles in court.

BGC has also his fair share of battles in court too about its former employees. In 2011, rival firm Tullett Prebon Plc had filed a lawsuiot against BGC over claims that it was poaching the former's traders. Because of the allegations, financial regulators in the UK had imposed a lifetime ban on BGC's former executive managing director Anthony Verrier, who have been found to have induced brokers at Tullett to jump ship and break their employment contracts.

When Bloomberg asked BGC for comment on Bou-Simon's lawsuit, the firm's spokesman in London, Robert Hubbell, refused to provide one. Bou-Simon's lawyer did not immediately respond to the news agency's request for comment.

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BGC Partners Inc, UK employment tribunals

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