A lawsuit has been filed by a former investment consultant for Charles Schwab who alleges he was the victim of age discrimination by the firm, Think Advisor reports.
Victor Kossowicz filed the suit in Middlesex County Superior Court in New Jersey, seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages, reinstatement, interest, attorney’s fees, costs of suit, and other relief deemed just and equitable.
According to the plaintiff, he was hired by TD Ameritrade in October 2019 to be a financial consultant. The following month, TD announced that it would be acquired by Charles Schwab and Kossowicz was terminated shortly afterward along with many other TD employees.
In April 2021, Kossowicz was rehired by Schwab as a senior financial consultant in New Jersey, where the lawsuit states he had a positive net asset flow despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. In November 2023, branch manager Charles Morlock, who had hired Kossowicz, was fired and replaced by Christopher Nixon.
Shortly afterwards, it is alleged that Nixon began to discriminate against older employees by giving written warnings to Kossowicz and two other employees. About six months later, the suit claims that Kossowicz received a warning for “alleged poor performance”, and that when he “questioned if those who performed worse than him were given warnings he was told ‘we’re not talking about anyone else.’”
When Kossowicz told his superiors he would “improve his metrics by focusing on their goals”, he was told that if he did not resign, his U5 form would be marked with a negative reason for his termination, which would make it more difficult to find a future position.
Kossowicz said he could not afford to resign and would need to be terminated in order to receive unemployment benefits.
Over the ensuing weeks, the suit contends that Assistant Branch Manager Mark Heusinkveld seemed happy with Kossowicz’s performance, but then at two more meetings in July he was again told to resign or be fired with a mark on his U5 that would make it difficult to seek a new job. “Defendants’ threat also strongly implied that Defendants knew they had no valid, justifiable basis for terminating Plaintiff’s employment,” the lawsuit states.
Kossowicz explained that he needed more time to find different employment, but he was terminated by Nixon on July 11. The following week he called Schwab seeking a reason for the negative mark on his U5 form. “The HR representative explained that it was due to ‘Performance – Non-Sales Practice Related,’” meaning he was not terminated for illegal practices.
Kossowicz’s position was then posted online by Schwab and Eric Imhof, an individual significantly younger than him, was hired into his position, the suit states.
Since his termination, Kossowicz said he “has had difficulty finding new employment due to the bogus negative mark” Schwab placed on his U5 form, the suit contends. It further alleges that the defendants’ conduct was a direct violation of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, and that the discriminatory conduct includes “putting a negative mark on Plaintiff’s U5 Form and ultimately terminating Plaintiff’s employment when he refused to accept Defendants’ discriminatory demand that he resign.”
Schwab has not responded to a request for comment, ThinkAdvisor reported.
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