Legg Mason Sued Over Worker Classification, Benefits Eligibility

Asset manager Legg Mason Inc. blocked full-time, permanent employees from receiving bonuses and retirement and severance benefits by wrongly classifying them as temporary employees, a former product marketer alleges in a suit in Manhattan federal court.

Belinda Barbieri, who received $85 per hour while working in Legg Mason’s product marketing group from 2017 to 2020, says the company treated her and similarly situated workers as full-time, permanent employees while blocking them from participating in the company’s benefit plans.

Barbieri says she was “fully integrated” in the company’s workforce, receiving an employee badge, permanent office space, and a direct phone line, ...