Bank of America exec stripped of his role after death of Green Beret employee who worked 100 hours per week

A Bank of America enforcement with a estimation for driving inferior bankers hard has been reassigned to a caller relation astatine the institution pursuing the decease of a inferior worker who had been moving 100 weeks.

Gary Howe was the head of Bank of America's Financial Institutions Group (FIG), and had been known to not strictly enforce the 80 hr moving week maximum regularisation for his inferior bankers. 

Working nether Howe had been Leo Lukenas III, a erstwhile Green Beret, who died abruptly successful May astatine the property of 35. He had been moving astir the timepiece to adjacent a large merger earlier his death.

In the weeks prior, Lukenas complained astir the magnitude of clip helium had been moving and had considered asking for a 10 percent wage chopped successful instrumentality for less hours and much sleep.

Now Howe, a elder enforcement astatine the bank, has had his oversight of the part stripped with immoderate suggesting it whitethorn lone beryllium a substance of clip earlier helium leaves the institution entirely. 

Howe's boss, the bank's CEO and Chair Brian Moynihan successful crook has a estimation of not firing workers and prefers to nonstop a awesome by demoting them instead. 

Howe, 54, was stripped of his work implicit the FinTech concern banking squad successful August - a important simplification successful his authority.

Bank of America is known for handling interior issues quietly, often done wage reductions and rubric changes alternatively than outright dismissals, making it hard for executives to enactment agelong word successful specified circumstances. 

No disciplinary enactment has been taken against Howe but astir 50 of the 150 employees successful his FinTech portion were reassigned to different radical past week, reports Bloomberg.

Lukenas' decease has served to item the grueling conditions faced by inferior bankers and the excessive hours worked. 

This incidental besides sparked statement astir whether the civilization wrong the concern manufacture is simply excessively demanding and whether due safeguards are successful spot for employees.  

Legal experts person suggested that the slope mightiness beryllium distancing itself from Howe to mitigate imaginable ineligible fallout from Lukenas' death, though determination is nary factual grounds that the inferior banker's excessive enactment hours straight contributed to his passing. 

Still, Lukenas' death, reportedly caused by a fatal humor clot, occurred aft an extended play of aggravated work, with immoderate household members believing the unit helium faced astatine enactment whitethorn person played a role.

Howe has ne'er publically commented connected the substance and took down his LinkedIn relationship pursuing the incident.  

Despite a simplification successful his oversight responsibilities, Matthew Koder, caput of planetary firm and concern banking, has said Howe continues stay a valued person successful the FIG group. 

'Gary has our afloat enactment arsenic person of our Global Financial Institutions Investment Banking radical and we proceed to put successful this starring franchise,' Koder said to the New York Post.

Howe himself had a estimation for pushing inferior bankers to their limits, which drew complaints from those who worked nether him. 

Those who had worked with him astatine UBS criticized his absorption benignant and the agelong hours required for tasks that included assembling transportation books, often for deals that ne'er materialized. 

At Bank of America his demanding quality followed him wherever helium drove his squad hard including the enforcement of a acold stricter return-to-office argumentation post-pandemic which required employees to beryllium successful the bureau by 9:30am 4 days a week.

This summer, the slope implemented stricter measures to show employees' enactment hours and rolled retired a caller strategy requiring inferior bankers to study their hours regular alternatively of weekly. 

This alteration came aft a Wall Street Journal investigation revealed however immoderate managers instructed employees to underreport their hours and disregard the 80-hour play bounds enactment successful spot implicit a decennary ago, requiring support for immoderate exceptions. 

The bounds was established aft the decease of an intern who had worked astir 72 hours straight.

However, sources judge that adjacent with these rules successful place, immoderate inferior bankers, similar Lukenas, recovered themselves moving good beyond the recommended limits.

Lukenas, who joined Bank of America successful March 2023, lived successful Brooklyn with his woman and 2 young children. 

The erstwhile subordinate of the Army's Special Forces moved to banking successful an effort to 'pursue caller opportunities for his family,' according to his loved ones. 

Those adjacent to him accidental helium had expressed vexation implicit the agelong hours and the toll they were taking connected his idiosyncratic beingness and had considered leaving the firm, speaking with recruiters astir imaginable occupation opportunities astatine rival banks. 

His decease came conscionable days aft completing enactment connected a $2 cardinal merger betwixt UMB Financial and Heartland Financial.

Although determination is nary conclusive grounds linking Lukenas' decease to the bank's demanding enactment environment, immoderate household members and colleagues person expressed concerns.

One inferior banker astatine BoA said of Lukenas' death: 'I deliberation what we each would privation is immoderate acknowledgement astir what happened, and astatine slightest not wholly disregard the information that it could person been work-related.

'And to astatine slightest conscionable commencement having those conversations arsenic to however they tin marque inferior bankers enactment beingness overmuch amended due to the fact that it's been agelong overdue. And I judge that, if anything, it's gotten worse.'

Howe attended Lukenas' ceremonial alongside astir 50 Bank of America employees, including elder executives. 

A donation page was acceptable up by the nonprofit radical 51 Vets successful his grant with a extremity of reaching $1,000,000. 

While the semipermanent interaction of this incidental connected Bank of America's interior civilization remains to beryllium seen, rival banks are besides making changes.

Last month, JPMorgan, 1 of Bank of America's main competitors, implemented its ain headdress connected enactment hours for inferior bankers, limiting them to 80 hours per week.

Whether specified moves volition pb to lasting alteration successful Wall Street's high-pressure situation remains to beryllium seen arsenic employees and insiders ticker however the manufacture responds to expanding scrutiny.