Co-founder sues company, says RTO rule used to oust him: What termination letter said

A corporate return-to-office crackdown recently sparked tension at an $8 billion asset-management firm. A unique legal battle has emerged at the company, suggesting that even top executives aren't immune to remote-work penalties. William Nieporte, the co-founder, chief operating officer, and chief compliance officer of Bramshill Investments, has launched a federal lawsuit after being ousted by his business partners for failing to show up to the office.According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, he was fired for violating a mandatory in-office policy that he had physically signed off on for his own employees. Nieporte spent roughly a decade building Bramshill Investments alongside two of his former high school classmates before the relationship imploded in 2022, leading to the co-partners sending a termination letter to him.What the ‘termination letter’ readAccording to a termination letter reviewed by the publication, his fellow co-owners did not mince words when firing him, writing:“You have willfully and deliberately failed to report to ‘in-person’ work”.The firing came just months after Nieporte and his partners sent a firm-wide email ordering all staff back to one of the company's three physical offices for five days a week, and offering severance packages to anyone who refused to comply.While the policy stated that employees were “at will” and could choose whether or not to follow the mandate, Nieporte argues that as a co-owner with a 12% stake in the firm, the rules simply did not apply to him.His legal filings state that he believed the mandate was strictly for regular staff, which is why he “appropriately ignored the email”. Furthermore, the nearest Bramshill office to his home in San Ramon, California, was located hundreds of miles away in Newport Beach.A $30 million battle over ousterNieporte alleges that his former partners used the strict return-to-office policy as an excuse to push him out of the company and take his 12% equity stake. Under the parent company's operating agreement, any shareholder fired “for cause” is legally forced to sell their interest back to the firm.Nieporte claims that his partners had previously tried to force him out multiple times, even offering a ‘lowball’ buyout in 2021 that he flatly rejected.After the return-to-office deadline passed, chief investment officer Art DeGaetano emailed Nieporte, stating, “We have both junior and senior employees commuting over one hour each way to work, and yet you feel this policy doesn’t apply to you”. Although DeGaetano initially gave Nieporte a 30-day window to rectify the situation, Nieporte was abruptly terminated just days after a subsequent buyout meeting.Get the latest technology news and updates. Download the TOI App.