The Supreme Court of B.C. (SCBC) has found that Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) dismissed a mutual fund representative wrongfully and has ordered the bank to pay damages as well as amend the termination notice it filed with the B.C. Securities Commission (BCSC).
According to the court’s decision, RBC terminated Marco Lau terminated in 2012 on the grounds that he falsified records by claiming existing assets as new money, allegedly in order to boost his sales results, and for failing to tell the truth when questioned about a joint meeting with a client. Lau sued the bank and Royal Mutual Funds Inc., claiming wrongful dismissal.
The SCBC found that Lau told the truth about the joint meeting. “Based on all of the evidence I am not satisfied that the defendants have discharged the burden of proving that Mr. Lau lied about the joint meeting. I find that he has told the truth,” wrote Judge Linda Loo in the court’s decision.
Although the court found that Lau did track existing funds as new funds, it also concluded that the bank did not prove that he did this to boost his own sales performance. “RBC has not established that Mr. Lau ‘claimed existing money as new money to bolster his sales’,” the court found, noting that he immediately expressed remorse for not tracking funds properly, and apologized.
The court also stressed that “Lau had an unblemished employment record”; and added that “[t]here must be a balance between the severity of his misconduct and the sanction imposed.”
Wrote Loo: “I find that the nature and degree of Mr. Lau’s misconduct in not properly recording funds did not warrant his dismissal for cause, and conclude that he was wrongfully dismissed.”
The court awarded Lau nine months’ salary and $30,000 in aggravated damages, for total damages of $59,512.
It also ordered that Royal Mutual Funds amend the regulatory form describing the terms of Lau’s dismissal within 60 days, as the existing form is “false and misleading” based on the court’s conclusion that his termination was not justified.