A Fortress Investment Group LLC managing director who fired an employee with a degenerative disease said he didn’t notice that his colleague couldn’t walk farther than 50 meters (164 feet) without stopping and believed his limp was a result of a soccer injury.
Christopher Linkas, head of European credit at Fortress, said he fired Michael Johnson for poor performance and was unaware the former army officer couldn’t walk up inclines or stairs because it was common at Fortress to use elevators, according to a witness statement made public Friday.
Johnson, who suffers with motor neurone disease — known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in the U.S. — is suing the New York-based asset-management company in a London court. He sat in a wheelchair while Linkas testified in the lawsuit, which accuses Fortress discriminating against him because of his disability. Damages in disability discrimination cases are potentially unlimited.
"He and I both played football in over-40s leagues, and sometimes each of us would come in hobbling after our respective matches," Linkas said. "I assumed he had suffered from something of this sort when I saw him limping."
Employment Tribunals
Fortress, which has $70.6 billion under management, is the latest financial institution taken to the London employment tribunals. The specialist courts have been the venue in recent months for disputes filed by at least a dozen currency-exchange traders fired amid a benchmark-manipulation scandal. Fortress denies knowing of Johnson’s illness, and says he was fired because of poor performance.
Motor neurone disease is a progressive disorder that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Patients in later stages may become paralyzed. In the U.S., it is also known as Lou Gehrig disease, referring to a baseball player whose death in 1941 brought the disease to wider attention.
At a five-minute meeting in July 2015, Linkas said he was dismissing Johnson because the firm was “downsizing” and “it’s just not working out,” according to the complaint. His firing a year ago came "without any warning," four working days after he returned to work following treatment, according to the complaint.
A Fortress spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
During proceedings earlier this month, the company’s lawyers accused Johnson of exaggerating his condition so he could sue for unfair dismissal.
“I did not know that Mike was suffering from a serious medical condition when we made the decision to dismiss, nor did I have any reason to suppose that he was suffering from such a condition,” Linkas said in his statement. "All I knew was that Mike had an issue with his leg and had recently had some hospital treatment that he had told me not to worry about."
