There’s No Laughing in Brokerage
Being funny at work is a delicate balance of being just funny enough to entertain your coworkers but not so funny that you get sent to HR. These days, funny is OUT!
Most of the FINRA broker-dealers you would work for these days have a big stick up their asses and will fire you and burn your U5 for nearly anything in a hot second, putting crap like “Concerns regarding behavior toward a colleague,” and the like on your U5. In most states, this kind of U5 entry could be considered per se defamatory, as there is little question that it will likely have a negative effect on a hiring manager’s impression of you. Statements like this on a U5 could mean anything. Told a disgusting – yet hilarious – joke, dropped your pants in front of somebody, gave somebody a wet Willy, or God knows what.
As a matter of public policy, and “normal” FINRA standards for completing the U5, such statements have no real place on the Form. What FINRA member firms should care about are items that would be of material interest to the investing public, like bankruptcies, criminal charges – misdemeanors involving dishonesty or any felony, and customer complaints. Not “Concerns regarding behavior toward a colleague.”
The second one of your more sensitive colleagues runs to HR, quit the firm! Get out before they U5 you with some B.S. Or, you’ll need to call the Law Offices of Christopher H. Tovar, PLLC at (832) 370-3908.
