Barclays is sued by a former bank keeper for joking a joke has cost him a job

(Bloomberg)-An Ex-Barclays PLC Investment Banker has sued the bank for unfair dismissal in which he claims that a clumsy remark taken out of context has cost him his job. Mathew Humphrey, an assistant -vise president in London, was rejected in October last year for misconduct after the bank found it to try to cover a potential errors in the client and said a junior not to disclose the issue as it “can open a can of worms.” After an internal investigation, the bank found that there were no problems with the fee, according to court documents. Humphrey argues that the remark was made much more serious than it should have been after his colleague reported it to bosses. “I wrongly judged the situation and regret that I made the joke. But what I am accused of was taken much further than a joke, “Humphrey said in a witness statement prepared for a hearing in London service. Humphrey is looking for £ 116,000 ($ 154,550) in lost compensation A Barclays spokesman refused to comment. The bank’s attorneys have denied all the allegations. “It is the dishonesty rather than the offense that is the issue,” Caitlin Page, a Barclays lawyer, said during a hearing this week. “It wasn’t a joke, rather a command not to escalate.” In January 2024, the junior colleague of Humphrey raised the possible mistake in the client money. Humphrey then gave a message to say that he was “half the temptation to fix and move on this term,” the bank’s advocates in the court’s runners said. He allegedly said he said he had said the junior not to disclose the issue before one of them left Barclays and, according to the bank, tried to hide the possible mistake. Humphrey did not respond to ‘Ne -mail and LinkedIn message for comment. The allegations were all false and he escalated the issue to management, Humphrey said in court documents. The junior colleague misunderstood the jokes and the bank decided to take the joke out of context because he wanted to get rid of him in the months after taking sick leave due to chronic headache. Humphrey does not have alleged discrimination of disability. “I have to appeal and clean my name and ideally compensate to help me get back on my feet and find another job,” Humphrey said. More stories like these are available on Bloomberg.com © 2025 Bloomberg LP