Case 1:17-cv-09023-RA Document 44-1 Filed 05/08/18 Page 1 of 9

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

KHRISTINA MCLAUGHLIN,
Case No. 17-cv-09023-RA
Plaintiff,
AFFIDAVIT OF KHRISTINA
v. MCLAUGHLIN

MACQUARIE CAPITAL (USA) INC. AND

ROBERT ANSELL,
Defendants.

STATE OF NEW YORK )

) ss:
COUNTY OF NEW YORK)

KHRISTINA MCLAUGHLIN, being duly sworn, states:

1. I am the Plaintiff in the captioned matter and I submit this affidavit in support of

Plaintiff’s Motion for a Preliminary Injunction.

2. Since the filing of this action on November 17, 2017, I have been the victim of

ongoing retaliation at the hands of Macquarie in an oppressive effort to either (i) compel me to

quit; (ii) intimidate me into accepting unfair terms in settlement of my claims; or (iii) intimidate

others in an effort to preclude them from coming forward in support of me.

3. Most recently, on or about Thursday, April 5, 2018 at 4:29PM, as I was

beginning an approved vacation, I received an email from Jenny Kiernan (“Kiernan”) in HR,

copying Dan Ritchie (“Ritchie”), stating that “a number of US Sales staff have expressed their

preference to have Dan attend their year-end appraisal meeting.” Kiernan further stated that

Ritchie had confirmed he was available and I should work with Christine Feneck, an admin,

when setting up my meetings; and Ritchie would be out of the office until the following

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Wednesday and that they would be happy to request an extension for my team as required.

4. This came as a surprise to me. I responded, in relevant part:

“Assuming this is not contrived by the powers that be to demote me and strip me of
my responsibilities, please explain why this is acceptable? I was promoted to this
role due to my ability to effectively manage. Why isn’t the firms leadership
standing up for me? This is a setup and you know it. And because I did not simply
accept the paltry 1/2 severance policy of $73,000 to go away, I need to suffer the
indignation of this blatant retaliation?”

5. On Friday, April 6th, Kiernan responded, in relevant part, in what appeared to be

a lawyer-drafted email:

“As we approach year end discussions, most of your staff have raised concerns
about your leadership/management/communication style, including your ability to
assess their performance objectively and in their and the firms [sic] best interest.”

6. Kiernan further stated, incredibly, that I should be mindful of the firm’s anti-

retaliation policy; and that any further concerns should be raised with Austin Dowling

(“Dowling”), Head of Macquarie Americas Employee Relations, or Evan Lison (“Lison”), also

of ER.

7. On or about April 8, 2018, I communicated with both Dowling and Lison

reiterating my concerns that I am being constantly retaliated against, specifically outlining many

of the adverse actions I have suffered, such as:

• To date in my over 6 years at Macquarie, this was the very first I was hearing of any such
concerns;
• I have only ever been promoted for my performance and leadership. I have taken on
expanded roles and was asked to contribute previously to many leadership panels for the
firm;
• I had never once been approached or made aware of complaints by my direct reports
and/or clients as Kiernan’s email indicated;
• I conducted my team’s mid year appraisals, following retention of counsel, and there
were zero complaints that I was made aware of from that time;

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• No desk manger in isolation can dictate an employee’s year-end. There is an RTC

(regional talent committee) process. Profit share numbers for my team had been
discussed, reviewed and submitted. Note, I was able to get my team paid up on average
52%. At that time, there was actually no way in which I could retaliate against my team,
and my actions to date have demonstrated no such behavior;
o I advocated for 3 director level promotions for my team;
o I provided several examples of my ongoing support for my staff;
• I asked for the specific concerns that had been raised and by who? I said I wanted to
clearly understand and address and that I welcomed feedback and always seek to improve
myself; and
• Kiernan’s email also indicated client concerns. The week prior, I had series 24 certified
our annual FINRA check and as a part of that certification, I signed that to date, MCUSA
(Macquarie Capital USA) had received ZERO customer complaints. Kiernan’s email
was the first I was being made aware.

8. On or about April 10, 2018, Dowling replied, cc’ing Lison: “Thanks Khristina,

lets [sic] you and I catch up to talk through. I think you are back on Thursday and Ill [sic] find

some time. Cheers Austin”.

9. On or about April 11, 2018, first thing upon my return from vacation, in an

attempt to foster an open dialogue and understand the details around Kiernan’s initial email, I

agreed to meet with Dowling to discuss his pretextual allegations concerning my staff.

10. During the meeting, I successfully refuted any facts supporting staff complaints.

Furthermore, Dowling was not able to provide evidence of any client concerns, not a single one;

despite Kiernan alleging such in her email to me. Furthermore, out of my 19 direct reports,

Dowling only mentioned two people who had complained whom I actively managed, and their

complaints were lies. Four other people that he mentioned were not even my reports and their

complaints were lies, and/or related directly to my claim.

11. I was very disappointed following the meeting because all of the feedback that

Dowling shared (outside of those directly related to my claim) were outright lies by people I

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have advocated and supported. One of the points of feedback was from a subordinate that I put

up for director-level promotion two years in a row and that I have paid at the very high end of the

sales team.

12. During these conversations, I did not specifically – informally nor formally –

request that Macquarie place me on paid leave, contrary to what Dowling may have interpreted.

13. Following this meeting, at 10:47AM that same morning, my counsel received a

notice that someone at Macquarie had contacted Judge Fried stating that I wanted to open

settlement talks again. This was a false representation to the Court. I had never stated anything

to that effect during these meetings.

14. Approximately one hour later, at 11:18AM, Dowling emailed me in writing

falsely stating that I had requested paid leave and that I should feel free to take the rest of the

week off until he got back to me.

15. On or about April 13, 2018, I asked Ritchie if he would have a conversation with

me. He stated that, “Honestly, being cc’d on the email was the first I was made

aware I would be joining any of your year end meetings.” During this meeting, he

also said, “Austin said you were going to take some time off.” In response, I told

Ritchie that I had no intention of taking time off and that I was going to continue to report to

work. I further acknowledged that my expectations had been managed that this could take

another year or more and that I could not just sit at home. I shared that I enjoyed reporting to

work every day and continued to do my job. Ritchie said, “It’s a shame. I like working

with you. You’re very good at your job.”

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16. That same day, the due date for year-end reviews, I submitted my year-end

personal appraisal, highlighting the accomplishments I had achieved as a manager and producer

over the course of the last year, despite the hostile work environment that I was subjected to.

17. In anticipation of recovering a bonus during the month of May, when Macquarie

pays bonuses, I reported my own personal production of over $4 million year-over-year, which

was up 23.81% year-over-year, ranking #2 in year-over-year growth by a producer.

18. That number does not include an incremental $1 million that I cross sold by

introducing a relationship to the commodities desk. If that revenue were included, I would be the

top year-over-year producer and rank 5th in total production.

19. Furthermore, my production does not factor in any of the commissions from the

many accounts I gave up to allow me the capacity to perform my expanded leadership and

supervisory responsibilities.

20. Overall, I am a producing manager for 19 direct reports and nearly $34 million in

sales team account manager production (this is a clean number, not double counting for any co-

coverage). The $34 million is roughly flat with last year, despite industry data that indicated the

overall client wallet was down 13%.

21. On or about April 18, 2018, Ritchie conveniently postponed my individual year-

end review and bonus discussion.

22. After leaving the office on April 18, 2018, at 5:51PM, I received an email from

Dowling that stated, in relevant part:

“Hi Khristina, I’m just getting back to you on your request last Wednesday that
Macquarie permit you to take paid leave – thanks for your patience as we’ve
navigated it internally.

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“I’m please to confirm that your request has been granted, and you are now on
fully paid leave with benefits (which we’ll revisit in a month’s time).”
23. I quickly responded to Dowling, in relevant part:

I am not taking paid leave.

These actions are being taken totally against my will.
We were having a causal [sic] discussion.
24. My IT access was terminated shortly thereafter.

25. Then, I sent an additional email to Dowling from my personal phone that stated I

had made no such formal request. I reminded him that I had verbally told Ritchie that I would

not be taking leave.

26. I sent another additional email that said these actions were being taken totally

against my will.

27. At 8:41PM that same evening, I replied that this is not normal course of business

and that these actions were retaliatory. In fact, I had recently read Macquarie’s supervisory

framework, which states you do not have to transition responsibilities if you are on vacation for a

month. I commented that I was supposed to have my year end review meeting with Ritchie

earlier that day, but he had conveniently postponed it.

28. On April 18th at 6:07PM, I texted Dan Ritchie, “Austin’s email is not right. I told

you in person when we met that I was not taking paid leave. I continue to try and do the right

thing by people- meet with Austin without my lawyer, do my job, be open with you re: the

business. You have to see what they are doing to me. It’s just not right. I will be at work on

Friday and for everyday until after this is resolved.”

29. At 9:04PM that same evening, Ritchie responded to my text, “Let’s chat

tomorrow.”

30. On or about April 19, 2018, given that I did not request to be placed on

administrative leave, I reported back to work as per usual. My ID worked downstairs in the

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lower lobby and it was a busy time of morning, so I did not need to use my ID to get onto the

floor.

31. When I arrived, I discovered that my computer had been disabled, but I attended

the morning sales meeting.

32. After the meeting, Ritchie asked me to speak privately. I assumed this was the

chat that he alluded to in his text the night before. He stated, “It is best if you go home.”

33. Given his directive, I left quickly, quietly, and without incident. I sat in the lower

level lobby because I was not sure what to do next or where to go. I was waiting to get in touch

with my lawyer. I was probably there 5 minutes. It is not uncommon for people to sit on the

benches down there while speaking or taking care of things on their phone.

34. Immediately thereafter, Macquarie disabled my access to the office. They had

already disabled my access to Macquarie email, communications, and IT systems the night

before.

35. Following my expulsion from the workplace, later that same day, three (3)

individual meetings were held across sales, trading, and research of the Macquarie U.S. Cash

Equities Division. During the sales meeting with my direct reports, Ritchie informed the

attendees that I had “requested to take leave.” However, later during the meeting, Kiernan

clarified to all of the attendees that the message was I was on administrative leave, not that I

requested it. Both of these statements were made without my assent.

36. This false narrative and forced suspension will cause me to suffer further adverse

employment actions in retaliation for my prior complaints of discrimination, and cause me to be

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irreparably harmed.

37. Prior to being unwillingly placed on administrative leave, I and my nineteen (19)

direct reports’ annual reviews were postponed indefinitely. The cash equities annual reviews

were to take place no later than April 20, 2018. I have since learned that my subordinate, Rob

Moderelli (“Moderelli”), was immediately elevated to assume my work responsibilities and

function. Upon information and belief, Moderelli has engaged in an effort to immediately re-

assign the institutional accounts I covered in my role as account manager for Macquarie. Ritchie

delegated all of my responsibilities to him.

38. The week of April 24, 2018, year-end bonus numbers were communicated to the

staff. My team was paid on average up 52% and the top producers are receiving bonuses higher

than what I was willing to acquiesce to in an act of good faith to resolve the present matter in

mediation. In addition, my introduction to the Commodities desk would receive a sales credit

incremental to any cash equities bonus. The policy states it is calculated based on 10% of the

second year commissions (where 2017 was the second year). To date, I have not received any

communication regarding my year-end bonus number.

39. Most recently, those in the market, including my accounts, have, without my

input, learned I am no longer covering them, and instead, their account coverage has been

reassigned elsewhere. This causes rumors to swirl, and my good standing in the industry and

institutional equities sales community to be adversely and irreparably damaged. I have no access

to internal systems to allow me to put through personal trades; nor do I have access to my Solium

account for my Macquarie stock and dividend elections. My long tenure in the financial services

industry, and my well-earned reputation, are now in jeopardy.

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