The Italian Job

In October 2025, we were retained by a private equity associate who had been abruptly terminated after a 14-month assignment in Milan. The firm, which managed more than $10 billion in assets, had encouraged him to relocate to help execute an international transaction. It brought him back to New York and then ended his employment.

The firm offered $43,000 in severance and disputed his entitlement to a year-end bonus, citing performance issues and the discretionary nature of its bonus policy.

We negotiated a $141,000 cash package—a 228% increase—plus an increase in vested carried interest from 60% to 100%.

Looking Beyond the Domestic Employment Dispute

The initial dispute centered on bonus compensation. Our client had a five-year bonus history and disputed the performance criticisms offered to justify withholding payment.

Rather than rely solely on that history, we examined the cross-border employment arrangement. The move from New York to Milan raised separate questions about work authorization, local payroll taxes, social security contributions, and employee benefits.

It also raised a claim for trattamento di fine rapporto, or TFR: deferred compensation payable at the end of employment under Italian law. We calculated approximately $20,000 in unpaid TFR for our client’s assignment.

The Broader Exposure

The TFR claim’s strategic value extended beyond its amount. Pursuing it could bring the firm’s treatment of the Milan assignment before Italian authorities and expose broader questions about its employment and payroll practices.

Our client was one of two employees relocated under similar conditions. Review of one assignment could therefore draw attention to the other.

The firm also could not assume that a standard U.S. separation agreement would conclusively resolve the Italian statutory claim. Italian law restricts waivers and settlements of mandatory employment rights and recognizes specified conciliation procedures for resolving them.

Repricing the Dispute

We presented the firm with the additional exposure surrounding the severance negotiation:

• Unpaid Italian statutory compensation.

• Potential scrutiny of the Milan assignments.

• Possible payroll and social security liabilities.

• Similar issues arising from the second employee’s assignment.

• The need to address Italian statutory rights through an effective settlement process.

The firm could dispute the bonus claim and still face separate costs and obligations arising from the overseas assignment. That changed the commercial comparison between continuing the dispute and resolving it.

The parties agreed to $141,000 in cash compensation, compared with the original $43,000 offer, and full vesting of the carried interest at issue.

The strategy turned a disputed domestic bonus into a broader assessment of the employment relationship and the cost of leaving its separate obligations unresolved.

Italian Civil Code articles 2113 and 2120.