Merrill Lynch Draws Support in Deferred Pay Forfeiture Appeal

Bank of America Corp.'s investment management unit received support from the business and financial sectors in its effort to kill a Fourth Circuit appeal by financial advisers challenging their deferred incentive compensation program’s forfeiture rules.

The appeal centers on a Merrill Lynch program that requires financial advisers to contribute a portion of their commissions and allows those amounts to be forfeited if they voluntarily depart the company under certain circumstances within eight years.

Plaintiff Kelly Milligan, who says he lost out on more than $500,000 because of this rule, is urging the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ...