Economy & LaborOCT 17, 2023

Citibank Fires Analyst Who Shared Pasta And Sandwiches With His Partner During Business Trip

American banking giant Citibank has recently won an employment lawsuit after firing a worker who had lied about sharing food and drinks with his partner during a business trip.

Szabolcs Fekete, who worked at the bank for seven years as an analyst, had sued the financial institution for unfair dismissal after being fired last year for gross misconduct.

Image credits: Mike Mozart (not the actual photo)

The man claimed he had consumed two pasta dishes, two sandwiches, and two coffees by himself during a business trip to Amsterdam that took place between July 3 and 5 last year.

When he returned to London, he filed an expense claim for the consumptions, arguing that their cost didn’t surpass the €100 daily allowance covered by the bank.

However, his superior suspected that someone else had consumed the food and drink in addition to Mr. Fekete.

In an email to his supervisor, the former Citibank employee wrote "I was on the business trip by myself, and I had 2 coffees as they were very small."

"On that day I skipped breakfast and only had 1 coffee in the morning. For lunch I had 1 sandwich with a drink and 1 coffee in the restaurant, and took another coffee back to the office with me and had the second sandwich in the afternoon which also served as my dinner."

The worker, senior analyst Szabolcs Fekete, initially claimed that he alone had consumed two pasta dishes, two coffees, and two sandwiches

Image credits: Ron Dollete (not the actual photo)

"All my expenses are within the €100 daily allowance,” he added, before saying that he didn’t have to “justify my eating habits to this extent."

Mr. Fekete's senior manager wrote back that the receipt "appears to have two sandwiches, two coffees, and another drink . Are you advising that this was all consumed by you?"

The issue wasn’t whether or not the analyst had exceeded his daily allowance, the bank explained, but that he had disobeyed its expense management policy, which doesn’t allow reimbursement for spousal travel and meals. Additionally, it states that those seeking reimbursement for meals and drinks must be listed.

The bank’s security and investigations services department questioned Mr. Fekete about whether his partner had consumed the pesto pasta or pasta bolognese included in the receipt, which the banker denied.

After confessing the truth, Mr. Fekete sued Citibank for wrongful dismissal

Image credits: Toshiyuki IMAI

Ultimately, the worker admitted that he had eaten out with his partner during the business trip. He also argued that his dishonest emails had been the result of a personal crisis that made him take strong medication following the death of his grandmother.

Given that Citibank still decided to fire Mr. Fekete, the man took the banking giant to court for unfair dismissal or wrongful dismissal.

Judge Illing, who presided over the case, ruled in favor of Citibank, concluding that the dismissal had been fair.

“I have found that this case is not about the sums of money involved. This case is about the filing of the expense claim and the conduct of the claimant thereafter,” the judge said.

"It is significant that the claimant did not make a full and frank disclosure at the first opportunity and that he did not answer questions directly."

"I am satisfied that even if the expense claim had been filed under a misunderstanding, there was an obligation upon the claimant to own up and rectify the position at the first opportunity.”