Bank of America Executive Loses Job And Multi-Million Dollar Bonus After Mooning Bosses

Back in 2005, Jason Selch ended a meeting with his bosses at Bank of America by pulling down his pants and mooning them.

Now, any person who has ever been employed could tell you that this would usually result in immediate termination. Mooning your boss is not an acceptable thing to do if you want to keep your job in corporate America.

NBC News reports that Selch had been a Chicago-based employee at Wanger Asset Management for more than ten years when it merged with Columbia Asset Management, a subsidiary of Bank of America, in 2005.

When the merger happened, Wanger employees were not happy with the way the new bosses planned to pay them. Bank of America has had a bad reputation for trying to squeeze the compensation packages of bankers and advisers at firms it acquires.

These compensation changes upset Selch, but what pushed him over the edge was when his friend, Chris O’Dea, was fired because he refused to accept lower compensation. This really ticked Selch off.

Selch burst into a conference room where executives from Columbia were meeting and asked them if he had a non-compete agreement, which in Wall Street is usually a way of threatening to quit and go to work for a competitor.

After the executives told Selch that he did not have a non-compete agreement, Selch mooned them, told one of the New-York based executives to never return to Chicago, then left the meeting.

Suprisingly, Selch was not immediately fired. Instead, his boss issued Selch a formal warning. In fact, the executive fought for Selch to be able to keep his job.

This did not sit right with Columbia CEO Brian Banks. When Banks found out about the incident, he insisted that Selch be fired. Banks found Selch’s behavior to be too “egregious” to allow him to continue on at Columbia.

Being fired meant that Selch lost a multi-million contingent bonus package that would have vested if he stayed on at the company for a few months more. Selch decided to sue the company because firing him after issuing a formal warning was a breach of contract. The warning stated that he could be fired if he misbehaved in the future, but Selch was well-behaved after the initial mooning. Selch also argued that the mooning did not interfere with his official duties, so could not have been fired “for cause.”

Even though Selch felt as though his being fired was unfair, the trial court granted summary judgment to the defendants.

Last Wednesday, a 3-judge appeals panel upheld the trial court, describing the mooning as “insubordinate, disruptive, unruly and abusive.”

Take this as a lesson to learn from … do not moon your boss and expect to keep your job.