Ex-RBC CFO Ahn says financial institution manufactured workplace-romance case

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Royal Bank 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 making an attempt to “manufacture” a motive to do away with 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 govt within the financial institution’s treasury division. The two had been nothing greater than “good mates,” and Ahn by no means abused her energy to orchestrate promotions or pay raises for him, in accordance with new authorized paperwork filed in an Ontario court docket.

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Canada’s greatest financial institution sacked Ahn in April after an investigation sparked by an nameless whistleblower’s criticism concerning the alleged relationship. The former CFO, one of many nation’s most outstanding ladies 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 did not disclose. RBC claimed the colleagues used pet names, swapped romantic poetry, celebrated anniversaries and met outdoors of labor for drinks.

“It is obvious that RBC’s conclusions are primarily based on conjecture and hypothesis, and are a blatant, deliberate try to manufacture a simply trigger termination,” the court docket submitting states.

RBC has “selectively quoted” communications between the previous colleagues, Ahn’s lawyer, Mark Fletcher, mentioned in a separate assertion on Thursday. “There isn’t any coverage towards 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.

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“Ms. Ahn was a extremely revered member of the chief group and a senior chief with fiduciary duties. We supported her profession development and had nice confidence in her talents,” the corporate mentioned in an earlier assertion. After receiving the nameless criticism, the financial institution “instantly commenced an intensive investigation carried out by exterior authorized counsel. We had been dissatisfied to study the allegations had been 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.

Lawyers for Mason, who can 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 choices as a result of they made sense. There are many checks and balances on the financial institution to make sure no particular person can unilaterally decide compensation.”

In the court docket submitting, Ahn argued the financial institution’s insurance policies don’t require the disclosure of office friendships. RBC executives repeatedly socialized outdoors 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 data with Mason and that she lied to exterior investigators when confronted concerning the relationship.

She mentioned a scenario wherein she fired an worker for having an undisclosed romantic relationship with a subordinate was “basically totally different than the office friendship” she had with Mason.

With help from David Scheer

Bloomberg.com

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