A former securities arbitration official's wrongful termination suit against the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is set to head to trial, despite the Wall Street watchdog's effort to end the dispute, a U.S. judge has ruled.
Jill Wile, a former deputy regional director of the regulator's arbitration unit in Boca Raton, Florida, alleged that her termination in 2013 was an act of retaliation by FINRA for complaints she made about discriminatory practices against her in the workplace, according to court documents filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
A trial in the case is set for Jan. 12, according to a scheduling order.
FINRA told Wile she was dismissed because her position had been eliminated, according to court documents. But events surrounding Wile's termination create a "reasonable inference" that the explanation was a pretext, wrote U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom in a 16-page opinion. Wile, who sued FINRA in February, had worked there for 25 years.
A spokeswoman for FINRA, which runs Wall Street's mandatory arbitration system, declined to comment.
Wile has also alleged other examples of bad behavior at FINRA's Boca Raton office, including a picture of supposedly independent arbitrators enjoying a champagne toast after the end of a case and a staff member saying he wished older arbitrators would die, according to her court complaint.
FINRA filed a petition in February the court to make an early ruling in its favor, ending the case. But FINRA, in court documents, said that it had reduced its arbitration staff because of a sharp decline in arbitration claims following a post-financial crisis peak in 2009.
