Free at Last
I am finally free of all holds over me from the Fortune 500 Bank that I spent 20 years working for has had the last year of my legal journey.
It. Is. Freeing.
I want to share what I can about the outcome of the legal portion of this journey. Hundreds of people have been following along, reading my posts, sharing updates with co-workers experiencing abuse at this company, and “watching” to see the outcome of all of this to determine how they will move forward with addressing their own discrimination and abuse within this company, and others. I hope this provides some clarity and encouragement that YOU CAN MAKE CHANGE.
You can change your situation.
You can change the situation for the greater good of others.
You can make a lasting impact. YOU ARE POWERFUL and your story matters.
By sharing my story and the story of others, I hope to continue making real LASTING change to create a more ethical, diverse, and healthy workplace for all.
*I was advised not to share any legal-specific details during the course of the lawsuit, which is why I share these details now as the lawsuit has been settled.
How it All Went Down - Retrospection
When I first turned down the $100,000 silence agreement/bribe when I was terminated in November 2019, the only thing on my mind was protecting the women and brown and Black associates being targeted.
The day after I was terminated executive management began positioning these brown and Black women for termination. I knew I could not sign the silence agreement which would have completely tied my hands and kept me from helping them or anyone else suffering from abuse, discrimination, or unethical sales pressure. I had quite a bit of fear around how I would pay my bills but that seemed so petty compared to the peoples lives and livelihood that was at stake if I signed the silence agreement.
(Side note; these women are all in different careers now, THRIVING).
When I finally decided to speak to a lawyer about what happened and Christina and Mike took my case, I made it clear from day one that my sole purpose in gaining legal representation was to make change within the company. If money was what I was after, I would have taken the $100,000 at the time of termination. They supported my goals, and we became a team.
When Christina and Mike first met with me in January 2020 they told me that employment law cases typically take 2-5 years to settle, with nothing happening in the first year or so. In February 2020 The Oregonian published an article about what happened to me, and I placed this article on the blog which I had started in May of 2020. This blog has reached thousands of people across America and even in other countries, and due to the exposure (and my courage to post on social media) I have received, and continue to receive, testimonies from all over the country; people sharing their experiences at this company of abuse, discrimination, unethical pressure, and unjust terminations (to silence them, as the company attempted to do to me).
By June of 2020 the company I spent 20 years working for reached out to my lawyers and wanted to settle.
That’s just 6 months after filing the original (publicly filed) lawsuit. YEARS before a normal settlement/closure of an employment lawsuit is even heard of. I knew I was getting their attention.
To view publicly filed lawsuits you can use Pacer.
At the time the lawsuit was filed we had requested many documents, some are listed below;
- The Human Resource Records for the two men listed in the lawsuit to prove years of ignored abuse complaints to Human Resources (many going back 10+ years)
- The 6 page presentation regarding the Regional Executive’s (my boss, listed in the lawsuit, who was demoted less than 4 months after he terminated me. He was moved to Arizona as a Sales Performance Manager) behavior. This presentation reflected his fear and pressure management style and supported the years of discrimination and abuse claims made about him to Human Resources.
- The companies incentive plan which reflects certain products “pay out” or have a higher weighting for sales performance rankings, which in turn creates it’s own pressure to push products that clients don’t need or want. This pressure is above and beyond the verbal pressure, intimidation, and threats used by executive leadership.
- The “scorecard”, or breakdown of how performance is ranked, (with product sales such as credit card and mortgage/home loans having the highest weighting) from my boss’s boss level down to tellers. This reflects the reason credit card is pressured so highly (read testimonies about this and how people are terminated for not pressuring clients into credit cards in the Testimony section HERE).
- My performance and ranking reports reflecting I was a top performing multi level executive though I was being threatened with termination due to “performance” starting in June of 2018 when the new Regional Executive began partnering with the Sales Performance Manager to begin terminating women and minorities (the two men listed in my lawsuit). This is a common practice with this company and many others. Read testimonies to this affect in the Testimony section HERE.
By June of 2020 (just 4 months after filing the lawsuit) when the company wanted to settle (to silence me and my mission), they had not provided the above documents. My sole purpose of turning down the $100,000 silence agreement and, later, gaining legal representation was to show patterns of abusive behavior and practices in order to put a stop to it as a whole and protect the brown and Black associates being targeted.
Because the company had not provided these documents, I refused to even meet to discuss settlement.
In August of 2020 American Banker published an article about what happened to me as part of an overarching article of this companies unethical practices. Dozens of people who read this article (which I was also posting on social media) reached out to me through the article sharing their stories of abuse, and asking for help (I continue to receive requests for help from people reaching out to me from this article).
This same month the company once again tried to meet to settle. Still no documents had been provided, I refused to meet once again.
In November of 2020 I finally received over 1000 pages of “documentation”. At least 1/3 of the pages were duplicates, blacked out, or out of order. My attorneys shared with me that this a sign of aggression that is so common within banks, that there is a term for it; Document Dump (you can read more about this HERE).
Still no Human Resource records for either man listed in my lawsuit were provided.
My attorneys told me that at that point we could either discuss meeting to negotiate terms, or we could begin depositions and move to trial which would take a few years to even come to fruition. Because many of those that would be pulled for depositions are terrified of retaliation by the company (I have kept all testimonies shared with me confidential in order to protect them), I did not feel right about dragging others into this messy and distressing process. I agreed to meet.
Prior to Meeting to Discuss Settlement Terms
The week prior to our meeting with the company and their lawyers, I sent a list of things I wanted addressed which you can see below, as sent to my attorneys;
Going forward, 3rd party monitored process for employees to escalate unethical practices, abuse, discrimination, or bullying in the workplace. Regular reporting to the 3rd party company to report on # of calls, geography of calls, repeated claims of abuse/unethical practices by specific individuals. Ongoing audits by 3rd party company to ensure compliance to the process, including yearly confidential phone or in person interviews of random employees at all levels.
Ex. I escalated to the 3rd party Ethics and Compliance hotline in August/September 2018 and never received a single response from (The Company) through and after my termination
Equal pay for roles across the board- then increases based on performance.
Ex. (The Company) states that pay is based on experience, however facts reflect that that is not the case and is a statement the company uses to continue to disparage treatment and unequal pay for women and brown and Black associates.
5 strike rule; once a single entity (department or person) receives 5 complaints from 5 separate individuals regarding their treatment of employees in a 18 month period, they must go through a review with (The Company) and 3rd party company for conduct. Review includes verbal testimonies from those escalating complaints, emails, and overseeing of the potential abusers’ interactions with their employees. Findings are reported to 3rd party company for joint decision on resolution, up to and including termination.
Ex. In under 18 months over 15 people shared with me that they had escalated the abuse/discrimination by the two men listed in my lawsuit (with dozens more confiding in me that they had escalated abuse by these 2 men over a 10 year timeframe), yet these men were never held accountable and are still with the company. This is not unique to these two men. This is how corporations protect the Caucasian men at the top.
Regular 3rd party audits of “whistleblower” and escalation processes, human resources, and advice and counsel processes around complaints from employees for repeated claims of abuse/unethical practices by specific individuals.
Audit of executive boards across the country and ensure equal representation for women/men and minorities.
Portland Metro Market is 100% Caucasian and 90%+ men representation.
Executive boards primarily Caucasian men
Review of company set sales goals against progress to goal by 3rd party company. Any Division and Region with a two year or more history of not hitting sales goals to be audited for complaints (behavior including abuse, discrimination, and unethical sales pressure). Audit to include random confidential interviews by 3rd party from the lowest level of the company (for instance tellers) to (CEO) level.
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The company refused to review my requests. They had/have no intention of making any changes to their culture or treatment of employees (since this article was written, and within 3 months of settling, this company has put together a team of 12 people that field off discrimination claims (terminate and/or pay off those escalating claims) before they get to the public or to lawsuits. Instead of making change, the company continues to put MASSIVE efforts into hiding what they are doing.)
The requests I made were meant to be a jumping off or starting point, addressing the most serious issues I had seen in my career as well as from the testimonies I continue to receive.
I had a small glimmer of hope that the company may have even a small desire to make change given the proven extent of the toxic workplace environment shared by so many, and through Human Resource documentation and records. Not to mention the fact that they fiercely protected the Human Resource documents for the two men listed in my lawsuit (although I do understand why they would protect these documents; it would prove the company is supporting abusive and discriminating behavior as well as unethical sales practices, and terminating those escalating it).
Part of the Non-Disclosure Agreements given by companies when they terminate people for escalating abuse, though it’s a small paragraph, states that you can share and discuss all of what you experienced with national governed agencies like BOLI, OCC, etc. I know many people that have signed NDAs with this company specifically, that are now speaking to national government agencies under my guidance about what they have experienced in the hopes that change will finally be made and sustained.
As I continue to work with companies and individuals across the country it is encouraging to see more and more people finding the courage to stand up against discrimination and abuse, and begin pushing back on NDAs and silence agreements at termination. Exposing this treatment is the only way we will start to see change.
- Heather
Additional Resources and to Contact Me;
- If you or someone you know is experiencing a toxic workplace, need help protecting yourself, or need guidance and support in taking the next step to a joy filled and thriving career- please reach out through my company Superpower Consulting HERE.
- For CEOs, business owners, executives, or leaders at any level who need help creating a healthy workplace, improving performance ethically, and avoiding lawsuits; I offer one-on-one and group sessions. Learn more HERE.
- For additional resources and support learn more HERE.