He Co-Founded an $8 Billion Firm and Signed the Return-to-Office Policy. Then He Got Fired for Ignoring It.

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In 2022, the co-founders of Bramshill Investments — an $8 billion asset-management firm — sent an all-staff email with a clear message: Return to the office five days a week or take our severance package. The email was signed by all three co-founders — including William Nieporte, according to the Wall Street Journal.

So, when Nieporte decided not to follow the RTO policy himself, he was promptly fired. His co-founders then allegedly stopped paying him his share of profits and moved to convert his 12% ownership stake.

Now Nieporte is suing for $30 million, claiming his fellow co-owners used the RTO policy as an excuse to axe him. He says the reason he didn’t come back to the office was that, as a co-owner, not an at-will employee, the policy didn’t apply to him. His nearest office was hundreds of miles from his California home. So he ignored the policy.

His co-founders disagree, saying junior and senior employees had been commuting over an hour each way to comply. Nieporte now lives in Nevada and works for a startup — remotely.