Fidelity fires four for playing fantasy football
Cameron Pettigrew called himself the “Fidelity Man.”
Working as a relationship manager in the private client group at Fidelity Investments’ Westlake office, Pettigrew says he looked forward to work every day. He even remembers telling co-workers and friends that he planned to retire someday from Fidelity, the country’s biggest mutual fund sponsor and one of the world’s largest providers of financial services.
But that isn’t going to happen. Pettigrew and three other Fidelity employees were fired for playing fantasy football.
“Firing a guy for being in a $20 fantasy league? Let’s be honest; that’s a complete overreaction,” said Pettigrew, who lives in Grapevine and has an MBA from the University of Texas at Arlington. “In this economic time, especially. To fire people over something like this, it’s just cold.”
Said Fidelity spokesman Vin Loporchio: “We have clear policies that relate to gambling. Participation in any form of gambling through the use of Fidelity time or equipment or any other company resource is prohibited. In addition to being illegal in a lot of places, it can also be disruptive. We want our employees to be focused on our customers and clients.”
Pettigrew, who was the commissioner of his league, knew Fidelity had a policy against playing fantasy football at the office. But he said the policy was poorly communicated and ignored by leadership. Pettigrew said there were at least 10 fantasy leagues in which leaders and managers played.
Good people, bad management and business philosophy when it comes to work culture.
Seems like selective enforcement of company policy. Wonder how others were able to avoid or deflect their involvement, if in fact there were more involved.
This irks me, somehow. Maybe it is overly stern, but this policy was NOT poorly communicated. When I worked at FIDO, serious warnings came out many times a year that being caught in any sort of gambling on company time — specifically including fantasy football — would lead to dismissal. It was pretty clear to me that this did apply to me. If your MBA is from U of T and you work in the private client group, does that mean that the rules are not meant for you, but only for "the little people?"
That sounds like a major overreaction to me. As a side note, I just moved all of my non-retirement stocks from Fidelity to OptionsHouse because I was tired of Fidelity's high commissions.