US staff build unpaid bonus case against city architects

Published on Friday 7 January 2011 13:11

THE city architects firm which designed the troubled Scottish Parliament building is being sued by its employees in the US over claims it owes them hundreds of thousands of pounds.

RMJM is claimed to have reneged on the 15.5 million deal that saw it merge with US-based Hillier in 2007.

According to legal documents lodged last month in New Jersey, RMJM still owes 430,000 of a 970,000 cash bonus pool that the firm promised to the employees under the terms of the merger agreement.

The claimants have also alleged that RMJM, which also designed the record-breaking Capital Gate Tower in Abu Dhabi, engaged in "siphoning off corporate funds" worth up to 5m from the former Hillier, now known as RMJM Inc.

The lawsuit, which was filed by former Hillier owner and shareholder representative Bob Hillier on behalf of a number of individuals, seeks to recover the money plus interest and costs.

In response, a spokesman for RMJM - which has its headquarters in Edinburgh and has offices in New York, Moscow, Hong Kong and Dubai, among others - called the claimants' allegations of siphoning off cash from the takeover firm "outrageous and completely and utterly untrue".

However, he said the 430,000 said to be owed to staff would be paid in the near future, adding: "We're surprised and disappointed at this move as it's well documented that, like virtually every practice, we've had to manage our cash carefully for the past 18 months.

"However, we fully expect the final $664,000 (430,000) payment of the $24m (15.5m) we paid for Hillier to be made in the near future and for the matter to be resolved to everyone's satisfaction.

"Separately, the allegations of asset stripping are both outrageous and completely and utterly untrue. In fact, the direct opposite has been the case, as millions of dollars have been injected into the US business since the beginning of the recession."

The lawsuit comes as RMJM's most high-profile figure, Sir Fred Goodwin, was this week reported to have stepped down from his short-lived role to tighten the purse strings at the company, for which he is rumoured to have received a six-figure salary.

A RMJM spokesman said the company would continue to call on the former banker's services "as required" but admitted that at present its needs were "less demanding".

Last year, RMJM was hit hard by the recession, forcing it to axe more than 150 jobs.