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The faithless servant doctrine is a doctrine under the laws of a number of states in the United States, and most notably New York State law, pursuant to which employees who act unfaithfully towards their employers must forfeit to their employers all compensation received during the period of disloyalty.


History and application

The faithless service doctrine is a very old
common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omniprese ...
doctrine that springs out of
agency law The law of agency is an area of commercial law dealing with a set of contractual, quasi-contractual and non-contractual fiduciary relationships that involve a person, called the agent, that is authorized to act on behalf of another (called the ...
.Manning Gilbert Warren III (2010)
"Equitable Clawback: An Essay on Restoration of Executive Compensation,"
12 ''University of Pennsylvania Journal of Business Law'' 1135.
It is a doctrine under the laws of a number of states in the United States, and most notably New York State law, pursuant to which an employee who acts unfaithfully towards his or her employer must forfeit all of the compensation received during the period of disloyalty. That period of disloyalty during which equitable forfeiture of all compensation is calculated is the period "from the date of the agent’s first disloyal act, and 'a fiduciary may be required to disgorge any ill-gotten gain even where the plaintiff has sustained no direct economic loss'."


Application in New York State

In a case from the 19th century that is still referred to today, ''Murray v. Beard'', 7 N.E. 553, 554-55 (N.Y. 1886), the
New York Court of Appeals The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the Unified Court System of the State of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six Associate Judges who are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by ...
held that a broker could not recover commissions from his employer, holding that "An agent is held to ''uberrima fides'' in his dealings with his principal; and if he acts adversely to his employer in any part of the transaction ... it amounts to such a fraud upon the principal, as to forfeit any right to compensation for services." In ''Astra USA v. Bildman'', 914 N.E.2d 36 (Mass. 2009), applying New York's faithless servant doctrine, the court held that a company's employee who had engaged in financial misdeeds and sexual harassment must "forfeit all of his salary and bonuses for the period of disloyalty." The court held that this was the case even if the employee "otherwise performed valuable services," and that the employee was not entitled to recover restitution for the value of those other services. The decision attracted a good deal of attention by legal commentators. Similarly, in '' Morgan Stanley v. Skowron'', 989 F. Supp. 2d 356 (S.D.N.Y. 2013), the leading case by a New York federal district court applying New York's faithless servant doctrine in Manhattan in the
Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York State. Two of these are in New York City: New ...
, United States District Judge Shira Scheindlin held that a hedge fund's employee engaging in insider trading in violation of his company's
code of conduct A code of conduct is a set of rules outlining the norms, rules, and responsibilities or proper practices of an individual party or an organization. Companies' codes of conduct A company code of conduct is a set of rules which is commonly writt ...
, which also required him to report his misconduct, must repay his employer the full $31 million his employer paid him as compensation during his period of faithlessness. Judge Scheindlin called the insider trading the "ultimate abuse of a portfolio manager's position." The judge also wrote: ""In addition to exposing Morgan Stanley to government investigations and direct financial losses, Skowron's behavior damaged the firm's reputation, a valuable corporate asset." The doctrine was applied as well in ''Mahn v. Major, Lindsey, & Africa'', 2018 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 1713 (1st Dep’t Mar. 20, 2018), which involved a legal recruiter accused of disseminating proprietary information to competitors in return for kickbacks, who was required to pay back her employer more than $2.7 million.


Application in other states

The faithless servant doctrine has also been applied by courts in the states of California, Maryland, Georgia, Missouri, New Jersey, and Oregon.Robert B. Fitzpatrick. Courts in other states have chosen to apply the doctrine in part, while Connecticut, Florida, and Rhode Island have chosen not to adopt the doctrine.


References


External links

*Lenzer, Robert (January 16, 2014)
"Morgan Stanley Claws Back 100% Compensation From Crooked Hedge Fund Manager,"
''Forbes''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Faithless servant United States labor law Employee compensation in the United States Agency law New York (state) law Legal doctrines and principles