The Central London Employment Tribunal has awarded £25,000 ($32,545) to a former U.K.-based executive of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Toronto, in a case involving the use of his corporate credit card for personal expenses and his subsequent termination, according to a filing dated Oct. 10.
The case involved Simon Price, who served as a “highly paid” managing director of active equites and started his career at CPPIB in October 2022.
Price was issued a corporate American Express credit card in his name, use of which was subject to certain restrictions, including a prohibition on using the card for any personal expenses, except in very limited circumstances.
Stolen wallet
In August 2023, Price visited the U.S. with his daughter and continued with a three-night stay in Venice, Italy. After returning to London, Price arranged to visit Albania for six days.
However, while Price was in New York, his personal credit card wallet was stolen. His corporate credit card was not stolen, as it had been kept separately from his other cards.
The tribunal found that he used the corporate credit card with the intention to pay back any amount charged for personal expenses.
Although Price cancelled his personal debit/credit cards after the theft, he could not go to his U.K. residence to pick up his replacement cards as he was at the airport in London between his U.S. trip and his flight to Venice.
As a result, he continued to use the corporate Amex cards for personal expenses, including an expensive five-star hotel in Venice, as well as subsequent airfare to Albania. All told, he charged £11,672.91 in personal expenses to his corporate card, the tribunal’s filing said.
The tribunal found that Price’s managers at CPPIB signed off on the expenses and that the amount charged on the credit card would be deducted from his payroll on Dec. 5. They also assured him that he could dispose of any documentation related to the expenses and everything appeared to be resolved.
The tribunal is a judicial body with responsibility for workplace justice, according to the British government website.
Traveling with a girlfriend
However, Price was later contacted by the company’s human resources department in Canada “who were querying the amount of the deduction and the reasons for it.”
On Jan. 23, 2024, Price’s superiors in London, Samantha Dachis, director-employee relations and talent risk management, and Frank Ieraci, senior managing director, global head of active equities and investment science, terminated Price for “gross misconduct.”
Dachis’ witness statement noted that the breach of the expenses policy would not by itself have been enough to fire Price, but the decision to terminate him rather related to how Price “conducted himself during the investigation meetings.”
Price lied about going to Albania with his daughter when he actually went with his girlfriend.
Price explained during the meeting with his bosses that he ”did not like to talk about his divorce.” He later told the tribunal that his family life was a “sensitive topic.”
The judge found that Price “intended to repay the money as soon as he was back in the office, with the intention that the money should be deducted from his pay before the respondent (CPP) had to settle with Amex.”
Davidson added that he found no dishonesty on the part of Price in using the card for personal expenses.
The judge concluded that Price “was not in repudiatory breach of his contract.”
Regarding Price’s lying about whom he traveled with to Albania, the judge said in the ruling: “I accept his evidence that he did not want to share information which he regarded as sensitive and personal with a person he had never met (Dachis) where the information itself had no significance. By this time, he had repaid all the money in full and did not feel he wanted to go into the details of what he did and who he did it with.”
The London office of CPPIB declined to comment on the matter. Efforts to contact Price, Dachis and Ieraci were unsuccessful.
CPPIB had C$646.8 billion ($472.8 billion) in assets as of June 30. The fund initially opened its London office in May 2008.
