RBC's former CFO is suing the bank that terminated her, alleging they made a a “devastating” error in firing her.
Nadine Ahn was terminated for a relationship with a co-worker, according to BNN Bloomberg, and is now suing in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice denying that she ever had a romantic relationship.
She claims in her suit she suffered “palpable reputational harm” and “public humiliation” and is suing for $36 million in pay and damages, the report says.
RBC had previously said she was involved in an “undisclosed close personal relationship with another employee which led to preferential treatment of the employee including promotion and compensation increases.”
Ahn's lawsuit details how CEO Dave McKay texted her on April 4, requesting a meeting the next morning.
When she arrived, McKay was absent, and instead, she faced unexpected questions from a lawyer about her relationship with Ken Mason from the bank's treasury group. Her laptop and cell phones were also seized, according to the court filing.
“RBC’s investigator accused Ms. Ahn of providing Mr. Mason with preferential treatment and insinuated that they were having an affair. Ms. Ahn pleads that RBC’s allegations are patently false.” her statement says.
BNN reported that Ahn and Mason had been friends since 2013, well before she became CFO, and she argues RBC's code didn’t require disclosing their friendship, which wasn't hidden. Mason, who was also fired, has sued the bank, claiming he was "ambushed" by a biased and unfair workplace investigation.
“RBC opted to make an example of Ken and Ahn by wrongly publicly shaming them in order to project moral righteousness, appearing to swiftly investigate and punish perceived corruption,” Ahn's filing says.
“The clear insinuation of the RBC Statement was that Ken and Ahn had had an extramarital affair and that Ken received career advancement and financial benefits as a result. This insinuation was false and defamatory.”
A spokesperson for RBC said: “These claims are without merit, and we will vigorously defend against them in court. We conducted a thorough review with an investigation by outside legal counsel and the facts are very clear that there was a significant breach of our Code of Conduct based on the irrefutable evidence collected during the investigation.”
