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