Royal Financial institution of Canada’s former chief monetary officer, fired over allegations she had an undisclosed private relationship with one other government, stated the financial institution was attempting to “manufacture” a motive to eliminate her, as either side double down within the more and more acrimonious struggle.
Nadine Ahn repeated her denial that she was in a romantic relationship with Ken Mason, a former government within the financial institution’s treasury division. The 2 have been nothing greater than “good mates,” and Ahn by no means abused her energy to orchestrate promotions or pay raises for him, based on new authorized paperwork filed in an Ontario court docket.
Canada’s largest financial institution sacked Ahn in April after an investigation sparked by an nameless whistleblower’s grievance concerning the alleged relationship. The previous CFO, one of many nation’s most outstanding 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 outdoors of labor for drinks.
“It’s clear that RBC’s conclusions are based mostly on conjecture and hypothesis, and are a blatant, deliberate try and manufacture a simply trigger termination,” the court docket submitting states.
RBC has “selectively quoted” communications between the previous colleagues, Ahn’s lawyer, Mark Fletcher, stated in a separate assertion on Thursday. “There isn’t any coverage in opposition to office 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 court docket filings.
“Ms. Ahn was a extremely revered member of the manager staff and a senior chief with fiduciary tasks. We supported her profession development and had nice confidence in her talents,” the corporate stated in an earlier assertion. After receiving the nameless grievance, the financial institution “instantly commenced an intensive investigation carried out by exterior authorized counsel. We have been upset to study the allegations have been true.”
RBC has additionally stated it had an obligation to reveal Ahn’s dismissal in a information launch as a result of she was a named government officer of the corporate.
Legal professionals 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 stated. “Nadine was supportive when consulted about these selections as a result of they made sense. There are a lot of checks and balances on the financial institution to make sure no particular person can unilaterally decide compensation.”
Within the court docket submitting, Ahn argued the financial institution’s insurance policies don’t require the disclosure of office friendships. RBC executives frequently socialized outdoors of labor with each other, and a few even took holidays collectively. Nicknames have been a typical a part of the office tradition, the paperwork declare.
Ahn additional denied RBC’s allegations that she inappropriately shared confidential data with Mason and that she lied to exterior investigators when confronted concerning the relationship.
She stated a state of affairs through which she fired an worker for having an undisclosed romantic relationship with a subordinate was “essentially totally different than the office friendship” she had with Mason.
(Updates with firm’s previous responses in eighth paragraph.)
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