Published on:
29 Sept 2025
3
min read
Ketut Subiyanto; https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-sleeping-in-bed-near-smartphone-4473864/.
KS graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in quantitative social science and studio art. She was accepted into a "prestigious" three-year analyst program at an investment banking firm ("the Firm").
A bright start to her career? Time to make bank?²
Well, not quite.
Her employment was terminated about 10 weeks after she started.
--
About 6 weeks after KS joined the Firm, she was assigned to her first live deal, which involved a potential merger for a large, new client. During her first week on this project, KS worked until about 2 am for 2 or 3 days in a row, and until about 1 am on another night.³
On Friday morning, she logged off at around 1 am because she had completed her assignments and had not been assigned any additional work, and without informing her team that she would be doing so.⁴
Later that morning, a more senior colleague emailed KS, suggesting that they speak in the afternoon to discuss expectations for a live project. KS exchanged emails with the colleague.
KS then emailed the director of human resources, requesting to speak and stating that she might "need accommodations" and "[did] not feel comfortable advocating for [her]self".
She subsequently informed human resources that she required 8 - 9 hours of sleep per night on a consistent basis.
A precious snowflake, representative of the strawberry generation?
Well, not quite.
She had a medical condition. In high school, KS was diagnosed with post-concussive syndrome from multiple concussions she suffered, and in college, she was diagnosed with "Unspecified Mood Disorder" and "Unspecified Anxiety Disorder."
--
Human resources:
- asked KS to provide a note from her medical provider explaining the accommodation she needed;
- contacted the Firm's COO, and was told that KS was staffing a "very active" live deal;
- spoke with the senior partner on the deal to ensure that KS would be able to a get a sufficient amount of sleep over the upcoming weekend; and
- proposed to KS an accommodation that would allow her to not work between 12 am and 9 am every day.⁵
KS was, naturally, concerned that if the accommodation was communicated to her team, she would be treated differently or looked down upon. Human resources explained that the project team would need to be made aware of the accommodation if it were to be followed.⁶
Subsequently, after a discussion between KS, human resources, and the senior partner, the senior partner told the project team that KS would be offline from 12 am to 9 am each day. He did not tell the team why.⁷
Problem solved? A happy ending?
Well, not quite.⁸
--
In part 2, we'll continue the story.
Disclaimer:
The content of this article is intended for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
¹ The facts are taken from an Opinion & Order of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. I'll share the link in a subsequent post - I don't want to spoil the story just yet.
Or you could just Google it - you do you.
² Pun absolutely intended.
³ These are probably normal hours for analysts in investment banking.
As for us lawyers, it varies. Among some of us, if we bumped into each other in the lift at around 6pm, we used to joke, "on half day leave today"? Ok that's not really funny. But I suppose sometimes, you choose to laugh or cry.
⁴ I mean... I don't think this is unreasonable, especially if she had not been told that she would need to be on standby?
⁵ I know that HR sometimes gets a bad rap, but in this case I think they did all the right things. At least up until this stage.⁹
⁶ Again, my sympathies are with HR - while KS' concern is valid, I just don't see a solution that does not involve informing the project team.
⁷ Tactful.
⁸ And anyway, surely you already know from the very first section above that this doesn't end well.
⁹ Dum dum dummmm, ominous foreshadowing.
