Portuguese 
English 
Spanish 
5 min of reading 
0 comments 
The Price of Sleeping on Wall Street: In New York, Employee Is Fired via Video Call at Centerview After Requesting Fixed Sleep Hours. The Lawsuit Seeks Damages of US$ 5 Million and Reignites the Debate About Extreme Working Hours in the Financial Market.
The Cost of Sleeping on Wall Street: In New York, where pulling an all-nighter is still treated as a badge of honor, a recent story has laid bare the real cost of this culture. A woman was fired via video call after informing Centerview that she needed to sleep eight to nine hours a night, at consistent times, due to medical advice related to mood and anxiety disorders. Months later, she filed a lawsuit asking the company to pay US$ 5 million in damages.
The case is not just about a termination. It questions the work model that has turned total availability into an informal but nearly mandatory requirement at major investment firms.
The Dream Job That Lasted Ten Weeks
The professional joined Centerview Partners in 2020, shortly after graduating from Dartmouth. She described the opportunity as “a dream.”
-
Friends have been building a small “town” for 30 years to grow old together, with compact houses, a common area, nature surrounding it, and a collective life project designed for friendship, coexistence, and simplicity.
-
This small town in Germany created its own currency 24 years ago, today it circulates millions per year, is accepted in over 300 stores, and the German government allowed all of this to happen under one condition.
-
Curitiba is shrinking and is expected to lose 97,000 residents by 2050, while inland cities in Paraná such as Sarandi, Araucária, and Toledo are experiencing accelerated growth that is changing the entire state’s map.
-
Tourists were poisoned on Everest in a million-dollar fraud scheme involving helicopters that diverted over $19 million and shocked international authorities.
A few weeks after being hired, she informed HR that she had been diagnosed with mood and anxiety disorders. The medical recommendation was simple: regular sleep, between midnight and 9 a.m.
The company accepted a formal accommodation. The woman would be unavailable during that time but would work the rest of the time, seven days a week.
A month later, management stated that the arrangement was not working. Colleagues began absorbing tasks after midnight.
The firm declared that it needed to hire an additional analyst, something described as unusual in its lean structure.
On September 15, 2020, during a video call, the decision was made: termination. The woman was fired via video call on the grounds that she should have anticipated the unpredictability of the role before accepting it. She had worked there for exactly ten weeks.
Centerview’s Thesis: Availability Is an Essential Function
For years, Centerview has maintained that sleeping a full night uninterrupted is incompatible with “the essential functions of the analyst role.”
In court documents, it claimed to have made “every effort” to accommodate the professional but deemed the situation unsustainable.
The public position following the settlement was surgical:
“Centerview has always stated that Ms. Shiber’s legal claims are unfounded. We were prepared to prove this in court and confident that we would have won the trial. Nonetheless, we are happy to put this distraction behind us.”
The message was clear to the woman: the model was not under trial, at least not officially.
The Defense: Culture or Real Need?
On the other side, the argument was straightforward. Permanent nighttime availability would be more of a cultural expectation than an operational requirement.
In times of distributed teams, digital communication, and asynchronous workflows, it would be possible to organize demands without requiring constant vigilance.
A federal judge found that there was a “genuine dispute” sufficient to take the case to a jury.
The trial, expected to last a week, was set to begin on a Monday. The Sunday before, the announcement came: settlement reached. Confidential terms. The original request stipulated that the company could pay US$ 5 million in damages.
100-Hour Weeks: The Backdrop in Wall Street
The incident did not happen in isolation with this woman.
In 2021, a slide deck from Goldman Sachs analysts reporting weeks of up to 120 hours went viral and led the bank to announce “protected weekends,” as reported by Reuters.
In 2024, the death of a young banker at Bank of America, who reported working more than 100 hours a week, reignited the debate about excessive work in the sector.
The official cause was natural, but the incident generated significant repercussions, according to coverage by Bloomberg and CNBC.
Following that:
- JPMorgan announced an 80-hour weekly limit for junior analysts, as disclosed by the bank itself and reported by the Financial Times.
- Bank of America implemented an internal platform to monitor professionals approaching the 100-hour ceiling.
The discussion ceased to be merely cultural. It became reputational, legal, and strategic.
What Is Really at Stake
The central question is not whether the financial market demands intense dedication. It does.
The issue is different: is 24-hour availability a structural part of the business or a habit that has never been formally challenged?
Labor law experts in the United States often remind that federal legislation, especially under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), requires employers to offer “reasonable accommodation” when possible.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reinforces in its guidelines that adjustments must be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
If sleeping regularly undermines the role, this needs to be clearly documented as an essential function. Otherwise, it opens the door for judicial questioning.
The Woman’s Termination via Video Call and the Symbol It Left
The fact that the employee was fired via video call adds a symbolic layer to the story. In the era of remote work, the technology that enhanced productivity has also begun to mediate layoffs in high-pressure environments.
The settlement reached the day before the trial raises inevitable interpretations. If the company claimed to be confident in victory, why retreat hours before the jury?
Avoid public exposure? Reduce legal risk? Protect its own internal culture?
On Wall Street, signals matter as much as financial statements.
The Price of Sleeping
Sleeping eight hours seems basic. In certain environments, it becomes a privilege.
The case involving Centerview did not officially redefine the work model in the sector. But it shed light on a sensitive point: when culture demands total presence, even rest becomes a negotiable item.
And when this ends up in court, the debate ceases to be internal.
Now the question echoes beyond the trading desks: are extreme hours inevitable or have they just been tolerated for too long?
And you, what do you think? Have you experienced something similar? Working to the limit is part of the game, or is it time to rethink the model? Leave your comment below and share this article with those who live the reality of Wall Street.
-
-
-
-
12 pessoas reagiram a isso.