Goldman says ex banker's $23 million whistleblower claim 'lamentable'

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By Kirstin Ridley

LONDON (Reuters) - A former Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) banker and self-proclaimed whistleblower is suing his former employer for more than 20 million pounds ($23 million) for unfair dismissal in a London claim the Wall Street bank has labelled "cynical" and "lamentable".

The bank said the claim by Thomas Doyle, its former EMEA head of synthetic swap sales who is suing Goldman Sachs International and four senior bankers, was "scarcely believable".

"This is not so much a schedule of loss as a schedule of avarice," it stated in documents filed with the central London employment tribunal and seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

The public war of words is rare as the vast majority of employment lawsuits are settled before they come to court.

Doyle, who worked at Goldman Sachs from late 2018 to 2021, has alleged he was unfairly dismissed with a "woeful" lack of proper procedure after he made multiple whistleblowing reports to managers and that he was forced to deal with "vile and bullying language".

He alleges he was fired in 2021 with no warning letter or proper performance management after raising concerns about whether the bank was treating customers fairly - and that he was told he was "causing disruption and conflict", a court document seen by Reuters on Monday showed.

Goldman Sachs alleges that Doyle made no real protected disclosures during his tenure and is trying to circumvent a statutory cap of roughly 90,000 pounds on damages for unfair dismissal by bringing an uncapped whistleblowing claim.

"This claim is a cynical and transparent attempt to contrive a whistleblowing claim where none exists in order to circumvent the statutory cap of damages," it alleged.

Doyle's whistleblowing claim was an afterthought and relied on largely historic "business as usual" matters that had been briefly raised, not elevated and then forgotten - but that his problems stemmed from not being able to do the job of his predecessor, the bank alleged in the filing.

"(Doyle) was intransigent, refusing to accept any responsibility for the breakdown in working relationships. A decision was therefore taken to dismiss (him). If anything, this inevitable outcome was overdue," the bank alleged.

The tribunal hearing, which is scheduled to last 13 days, will establish whether the bank is liable. Should Doyle win this stage of his case, a further hearing will establish the level of any damages.

($1 = 0.8834 pounds)