A former Citibank analyst’s claim for unfair dismissal from the bank has been dismissed after a tribunal found he lied about buying food for a partner and billing his employer for it.
Former senior analyst Szabolcs Fekete claims he was wrongfully and unfairly fired by his former employer.
Documents from the September court case, details of which were released last week, show Fekete traveled to Amsterdam in July 2022 on business.
Fekett told a colleague he was taking his partner on a three-night trip and took six weeks’ medical leave after returning from abroad.
files seen wealthsaid Fecht had been struggling with the loss of his grandmother before the incident and described her death as a “significant loss” to the claimant.
The warning about an expense report filed while Fecht was on medical leave in late July was raised by the man’s senior colleague, a Citi director.
The supervisor asked why Fecht’s expense report appeared to show a meal for two and asked the claimant to add the name of the co-worker he was eating with.
Citi’s expense policy clearly states that spousal travel and meals are not reimbursable, and any employee attendee for whom the company is required to pay must be named.
When asked who made the previous additions, Fecht claimed that all the food and drinks were for him: “I was on a business trip by myself and I had two cups of coffee because they were small.”
When a manager further asked how Fickert could have eaten two sandwiches, two cups of coffee and a third drink in one meal, the employee explained: “I skipped breakfast and only drank one cup of coffee in the morning.
“For lunch, I had a sandwich, a drink and a cup of coffee in the cafeteria, then brought another cup of coffee back to the office and had a second sandwich in the afternoon… which also served as my dinner.”
The employee also rebutted the challenge, saying he was “well within” the company’s daily limit of 100 euros.
Unwrapped Pasta Pesto Sauce
Fekete’s story became more complicated when he was called into a Zoom meeting to discuss expense reimbursement – after further questions were raised about why the company had been charged for two meals on other occasions.
The employee had previously tried to avoid questions emailed to him about the expense report, saying: “Can you just outline what your concerns are because I don’t think I have to prove my eating habits to that extent. Is it reasonable?”
During the Zoom meeting, Fecott was asked if he was traveling with other staff – he said no – and if he might have accidentally collected food for his partner – he again said no.
Ficott highlighted his apparent eating habits, claiming he ate two portions of pasta during the trip – one pesto and one spaghetti bolognese.
The employee was given some time to consider his position before admitting there was some “overlap” between his personal and company cards. He confirmed that some of the food on the expense report was consumed by his partner.
At a further disciplinary hearing, Fecott claimed he was unaware of Citi’s policy on expense reimbursement and said he did not provide further clarification to management because he was feeling stressed and anxious.
London court first reported financial timesThis reasoning was rejected, finding that the complaint of unfair and wrongful dismissal was “not well founded”.
A Citibank spokesperson said wealth: “We are pleased with this decision.”
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