[ by Melanie Gretchen ]

The UBS managing director fired for gross misconduct in his supervision of convicted trader Kweku Adoboli is alleging race discrimination and unfair dismissal in a lawsuit filed in June at a London employment tribunal.  The director, who was the Swiss bank's head of European cash trading, claimed the bank treated him more harshly than others because he’s black.

Ronald Greenidge in his suit alleges "stark discrepancies" between how the bank treated him and other people connected to Mr. Adoboli. Mr.  Greenidge is of black Caribbean origin; Mr. Adoboli is of black African origin. The claimant believes he has been treated less favorably than his" white counterparts.

The Lawsuit. Mr. Greenidge, who was born and raised in the U.K. spent nearly 2 decades at the bank, where he made £286,000 a year, which included his bonus, according to the complaint.  At Mr. Adoboli’s 2-month trial, he testified that his nickname at the firm was Mace Windu, after the "Star Wars" character played by Samuel L. Jackson.

Mr. Greenidge alleges:

• the bank fired him based on "weak and unsubstantiated allegations" in a process "tainted with a sense of pre-determination"
• he had 2 days to prepare for an internal disciplinary hearing in October last year, while UBS had 6 weeks to ready itself
• he was the only person in the cash-equities department to be suspended or fired over the scandal, even though the losses occurred after he no longer supervised the desk
• of the list he provided of other people responsible for supervising Adoboli or managing some aspect of the trading processes he used in the fraud, no one else was interviewed or disciplined the way he was

He said discussing his concerns with UBS was like "talking to a brick wall."  In its defense, UBS said Mr. Greenidge "did not take his supervisory responsibilities as seriously as he should have."

The Big Picture. Mr. Greenidge's suit for unfair dismissal because of the loss is the latest UBS faces, though no other suits have detailed racial discrimination.  Mr. Adoboli, who is originally from Ghana, was sentenced to 7 years in prison on 11/20/12 for fraud connected to a $2.3 billion loss.  In turn, the bank was fined by Britian's Financial Services Authority (FSA) for £29.7 million ($47.6 million) over weaknesses in management systems and internal controls that allowed Adoboli to make risky trades.

For further details, go to [Bloomberg, 12/3/12].