The judge cites manufactured violations, a flawed investigation, and regulatory reports that damaged the career of a top-ranked employee.
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has ruled that the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) wrongfully dismissed one of its highest-performing financial planners for cause. The court ordered RBC & its mutual fund subsidiary to pay more than CAD 2.6 (USD 1.846) million in damages to Silva. That includes CAD 250,000 (USD 177,500) in punitive damages. The ruling was for conduct the court described as harsh and reprehensible, besides marking a departure from ordinary standards of decent behavior.
The decision, Silva v. RBC, was recently released by Justice Casullo of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice following a trial that ran across 25 hearing days spanning 10 months between January and October ’25.
The case involved Ravini Silva, a financial planner who had been employed with RBC for over a decade since ’06. She had been dismissed for cause in ’18 on allegations that she forwarded confidential client information to her personal email. Additionally, she processed trades without proper client authorization and instructed clients to backdate documents.
Justice Casullo found that none of the three allegations amounted to just cause for dismissal. Furthermore, the internal investigation used to build the case against Silva wasn’t genuine fact-finding but more a form of ammunition gathering.
Decorated career, conflict derailed
According to the court’s reasons, Silva immigrated to Canada from Sri Lanka over 2 decades ago in ’04. She quickly rebuilt a banking career. She was initially at TD Bank before joining RBC in ’06 & eventually being promoted to financial planner. Nearly a decade later, the court found that Silva had ranked 1st among financial planners in the Greater Toronto Area and 3rd in Canada. In recognition of Silva’s achievement, she was awarded an all-expense-paid convention cruise for exceptional sales results.
The court also ascertained that trouble began after Silva was transferred from RBC’s Ajax branch to its Richmond Hill branch in mid-’16’. A plan to gradually transfer her clients from the Ajax branch to the Richmond Hill branch broke down. The management concluded that Silva was being defiant & insubordinate. Silva concluded that she was receiving mixed signals; besides, she was being unfairly targeted.
