Royal Financial institution of Canada’s former chief monetary officer, fired over allegations she had an undisclosed private relationship with one other govt, mentioned the financial institution was attempting to “manufacture” a motive to eliminate her, as either side double down within the more and more acrimonious battle.
Nadine Ahn repeated her denial that she was in a romantic relationship with Ken Mason, a former govt within the financial institution’s treasury division. The 2 had been nothing greater than “good friends,” and Ahn by no means abused her energy to orchestrate promotions or pay raises for him, in response to new authorized paperwork filed in an Ontario courtroom.
Canada’s greatest financial institution sacked Ahn in April after an investigation sparked by an nameless whistleblower’s criticism in regards to the alleged relationship. The previous CFO, one of many nation’s most distinguished girls in finance with 25 years of expertise on the financial institution, filed a wrongful dismissal lawsuit final month.
The financial institution fired again one week later, alleging it has greater than a decade of communications between Ahn and Mason proving the 2 had an intimate relationship that they didn’t disclose. RBC claimed the colleagues used pet names, swapped romantic poetry, celebrated anniversaries and met exterior of labor for drinks.
“It is clear that RBC’s conclusions are based on conjecture and speculation, and are a blatant, deliberate attempt to manufacture a just cause termination,” the courtroom submitting states.
RBC has “selectively quoted” communications between the previous colleagues, Ahn’s lawyer, Mark Fletcher, mentioned in a separate assertion on Thursday. “There is no policy against workplace friendships, and that’s all this was.”
A spokesperson for RBC declined to touch upon Ahn’s new filings however referred to the financial institution’s earlier responses and courtroom filings.
“Ms. Ahn was a highly respected member of the executive team and a senior leader with fiduciary responsibilities. We supported her career growth and had great confidence in her abilities,” the corporate mentioned in an earlier assertion. After receiving the nameless criticism, the financial institution “immediately commenced a thorough investigation conducted by external legal counsel. We were disappointed to learn the allegations were true.”
RBC has additionally mentioned it had an obligation to reveal Ahn’s dismissal in a information launch as a result of she was a named govt officer of the corporate.
Attorneys for Mason, who can also be suing for wrongful dismissal, didn’t reply to a request for remark.
RBC’s Allegations
Mason earned his promotions and pay raises, Fletcher mentioned. “Nadine was supportive when consulted about these decisions because they made sense. There are many checks and balances at the bank to ensure no individual can unilaterally determine compensation.”
Within the courtroom submitting, Ahn argued the financial institution’s insurance policies don’t require the disclosure of office friendships. RBC executives commonly socialized exterior of labor with each other, and a few even took holidays collectively. Nicknames had been a standard a part of the office tradition, the paperwork declare.
Ahn additional denied RBC’s allegations that she inappropriately shared confidential info with Mason and that she lied to exterior investigators when confronted in regards to the relationship.
She mentioned a state of affairs during which she fired an worker for having an undisclosed romantic relationship with a subordinate was “fundamentally different than the workplace friendship” she had with Mason.
(Updates with firm’s previous responses in eighth paragraph.)
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