A former govt at Guild Mortgage is suing the lender for wrongful termination, alleging the mortgage retailer made up causes to legitimize the layoff.
James Seely, former division vice chairman of the company’s Northeast space, claims Guild terminated his employment settlement on Nov. 20, 2023 primarily based totally on false pretenses after agency administration did not persuade him to surrender. He is in search of $750,000 in damages.
Seely joined Guild after his agency, Residential Mortgage Suppliers Holdings, Inc. was acquired in 2021, giving the mortgage agency a substantial foothold inside the Northeast.
The swimsuit, filed in Maine Jan. 2, accuses the mortgage lender of fabricating claims of material breaches of employment to stay away from contractual obligations. That’s one factor Guild has carried out beforehand “to stay away from paying an govt owed compensation, significantly severance pay,” Seely alleges.
Guild Mortgage declined to the touch upon pending litigation Tuesday. Its spokeswoman added the company’s “long-standing recognition for doing what’s correct is constructed from our core values of integrity and respect.”
Earlier to getting laid off, Guild administration tried to “strain and pressure” him to resign so that he would “forfeit due and owed compensation under the employment settlement,” Seely says inside the swimsuit.
When that failed, the mortgage retailer despatched a letter on Oct. 20, 2023 outlining devices that justified a termination. This included: Seely’s division not being worthwhile, the supervisor not being engaged full-time in his work and that he shared a textual content material message communication from Guild’s CEO Terry Schmidt with one different Guild employee.?
The letter gave Seely 30 days to remedy this stuff, nevertheless Guild prevented him from doing so by intentionally freezing him out of the group, he alleges.
“Guild violated the implied covenant of high-quality faith and truthful dealing by¡actively excluding Mr. Seely from conferences and discussions and thereby stopping Mr. Seely from “curing” devices flagged contained in the letter; and ignoring Mr. Seely’s requests to be invited to and obtain entry to Guild conferences that he must have attended as division vice chairman,” the swimsuit said.
A number of week later, Oct. 27, 2023, Seely found his perform was offered to Bob Johnson, one different govt employee at Guild and former RMS govt. As of Tuesday, Johnson’s title is regional vice chairman at Guild Mortgage, per LinkedIn.
Seely despatched a response letter to Guild asking for the company to stop freezing him out and allow him to hitch conferences, nevertheless Guild on no account responded, he said. He was later axed by the company with Guild stating that Seely “did not remedy the alleged breaches set forth inside the letter, significantly “fail[ing] to commit [his] full time and a spotlight to the effectivity of [his] job duties,” and “demonstrating an absence of intent to remedy.”
