Investment firm caps work hours for junior staff at 80 a week after outcry over young banker’s shocking death

Leo Lukenas III, 35, died in May after working multiple 100-hour weeks

Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase are both implementing new policies around junior employee hours. This comes after the sudden death of 35-year-old Bank of America associate Leo Lukenas III earlier this year (AFP via Getty Images)

JPMorgan Chase is limiting the hours its junior investment bankers can work after the shocking death of a 35-year-old Bank of America associate earlier this year.

JPMorgan Chase is limiting its junior investment bankers to a maximum of 80 hours per week, The Wall Street Journal reports. The policy, which is the same as New York’s weekly hour limit for medical residents, comes after 35-year-old Bank of America associate Leo Lukenas III died suddenly earlier this year, according to the Journal.

The bank will make exceptions to the weekly hour limit in special cases, such as when associates are working on a live deal, according to the outlet.

Lukenas died in May from a blood clot in his coronary artery after working multiple 100-hour weeks, the Journal reports. The 35-year-old Army veteran said he wanted to leave the bank just months before his death, citing the grueling hours, Reuters reported in May.

JPMorgan Chase declined to comment on the new policy when contacted by The Independent.

JPMorgan Chase will limit junior associates’ hours to 80 per week (Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Bank of America has implemented a new timekeeping system that will require junior associates to describe their hours in more detail, the Journal reports.

This follows an investigation by the Journal that claimed some Bank of America employees had been instructed to lie about their hours. After that investigation was published, Bank of America encouraged employees to tell human resources or their supervisor if they were pressured to misreport their hours, according to the Journal.

The new time-keeping system, which will prompt bankers to log their time daily instead of weekly as well as ask them for details on their work and who assigned it, was being developed before Lukenas’s death, the Journal reports.

“We successfully piloted this improved technology platform earlier this year to help our team more efficiently serve our investment banking clients,” a Bank of America spokesperson said in a statement.

Lukenas’s death was not the only tragedy to strike Bank of America this year.

The same month Lukenas died, 25-year-old Bank of America trader Adnan Deumic suddenly passed away.

“The death of our teammate is a tragedy, and we are shocked by the sudden loss of a popular, young colleague,” a Bank of America spokesperson told Fox Business in May. “We are committed to providing our full support to Adnan’s family, his friends and to our many employees grieving his loss.”

Deumic was based in the United Kingdom and worked as a credit portfolio and algorithmic trader for the bank.