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Elite New York M&A advisory boutique Centerview Partners has settled a lawsuit from a former analyst who was fired after saying she needed eight to nine hours’ sleep per night.
The bank has reached an agreement with Kathryn Shiber on the eve of going to trial, in a case that would have required the bank to persuade a jury of New Yorkers that being available to work in the early hours was an essential part of the role.
The case became a lightning rod for a debate over working conditions for junior employees on Wall Street, where long hours and late nights are common. Centerview did not disclose the terms of the settlement.
Shiber sued the Wall Street firm for disability discrimination under state and federal law and had been seeking millions of dollars in the case.
Centerview said in a statement that Shiber’s legal claims “have no merit”.
“We were ready to prove that in court, and are confident we would have prevailed at trial,” it said. “But we are nonetheless happy to put this distraction behind us and focus on delivering for our clients.”
The trial, which had been scheduled to start on Monday, was set to feature testimony from Shiber and senior Centerview executives, including co-president Tony Kim.
At a pre-trial hearing last week, a judge said details of Centerview’s revenues, profits and financial performance could be disclosed during the trial — rejecting a bid by the bank to keep the information private. The bank’s lawyers had argued such disclosure could create a “David versus Goliath narrative”.
Centerview, co-founded by Wall Street rainmakers Blair Effron and Robert Pruzan in 2006, competes with bulge-bracket investment banks such as Goldman Sachs.
Shiber joined Centerview in 2020 and was staffed on “Project Dragon”, a mandate to defend the multibillion-dollar utility Duke Energy from a possible proxy contest led by hedge fund Elliott Management.
After being assigned to the high-stakes project, the then 21-year-old disclosed a medical condition that required her to sleep for eight to nine hours a night, ideally on a consistent schedule.
The bank at first gave her a guaranteed window from midnight until 9am in which she would not be expected to work. But weeks later Centerview dismissed her, saying she was unable to perform the essential functions of the role if she was unavailable during those hours. The window had only been a short-term measure, it said in court filings.
The trial would have raised the question of whether or not such availability was essential. When federal judge Edgardo Ramos in October ordered the case to move forward, he said there was a “genuine dispute” about the matter.