I just heard a horror story about a hedge fund called Integrated Finance Limited (IFL).?? A bunch of top employees, including the head quant and head of IT, who had all been complemented on their invaluable work just weeks before, were walked out to the door on Thursday with no warning, and not a single solitary day of severance. Forget bonus of course.

I worked at McKinsey...and they didn't even treat a fellow who had been caught doing something illegal that way. Although according to NYS law you can terminate an employee with no warning and no severance, it is a damn shabby way to treat good people who have given you 70 hour weeks and helped build your company.?? Even bus drivers get two weeks notice.

The employees were told the reason for their sudden dismissal is that the company is operating "on fumes"...yet the doors are still open, the switchboard knows nothing about it, and the company directors are still there.

Isn't it odd that this all happens during February bonus season?

One rumor has it the company was about to get big funding, and they wanted top salary guys out of the building before they had to follow through on paying them compensation on top of base.

Warning: these jokers may be out looking for new fools to help them in a few months, probably with the same line about their Nobel prize winner and unique strategy. However, if their "ethics" allowed them to behave this way once, new hires should watch their back and keep headhunter phone numbers on autodial. If you are gullible enough to work for IFL, demand compensation in writing. However, I??m told they won??t give guarantees, but are instead very convincing in outlining three good to excellent pay scenarios, not one of which includes being thrown out on your ear.

Now everyone should be warned that when you join a firm you should make sure that at least two weeks notice and severance of at least one month is in the contract you sign. These poor chumps have no recourse, because no one ever thought a respectable looking financial company who boast a board full of former JP Morgan honchos, who presumably brought some of the ethics of that older company with them, would behave like this.

Not one of the employees of IFL were told this was a shaky start up, or that the company was in any way in trouble.??

The axed employees were not prepared as they had been told their work was excellent, and they assumed their job was secure. Instead, they were treated as if they had done something criminal.

Just keep your eyes open when applying for work to avoid this kind of job disaster.?? Don't trust recruiters... they'll tell you whatever is needed for them to get their fee, they'll vouch for the company.?? Don't look at the office...scam artists always spend money on nice furniture and a decent addresses in order to rope in gullible investors. Sadly, you can??t even go by direct answers to direct questions. I know one of these guys asked directly the shape of the company before joining, as he was considering several offers. IFL aggressively assured him everything was great. Even when he asked a month ago, this one employee was given a long list of investors eager to jump in.

Bottom line: if you have any gut doubts about a company, don't take the risk with your future! Unless at least a dozen people you know have heard of it, take a pass. Go with a larger established firm.

How many people living in NYC could affford to be tossed out on the street tomorrow without a dime?? IFL couldn??t even give these guys the dignity of a couple of weeks to prepare....and we all know that at a VP level it takes more than two weeks to find a new job.

Truly Heinous.

Someone wrote me that he knew of IFL, and they were all respectable well known people. Well Enron was full of respectable well regarded people. That is not enough these days..