Neelam Sandhu also claims she faced retaliation after reporting alleged behaviour
It was Blackberry’s former chief marketing officer who sued the company’s CEO, alleging he sexually harassed her and then retaliated against her for reporting the behaviour, according to a report.
Neelam Sandhu – who worked for the company for nearly 15 years ending in December 2023 – filed the case against Blackberry and CEO John Giamatteo in April, reported The Canadian Press.
Sandhu alleged that Giamatteo had "tried to get close to her" and "woo" her after he became the president of the company's cybersecurity business in October 2021.
Giamatteo suggested that the two of them travel together, she said, according to the report.
Also, at a dinner she understood to be a business meeting, Giamatteo told Sandhu stories about how he dresses up when he's out with his daughters so people mistake him for "a dirty old man" out on a date with them, she alleged.
Sandhu claims she reported the incidents to BlackBerry. However, she was then excluded from meetings and heard Giamatteo had started telling staff he wanted to get her "out," she alleged.
She was later told she was being terminated effective immediately as part of a restructuring, she said, according to the CP report posted on CTV News.
By then, Sandhu pursued the case using the pseudonym Jane Doe as she tried to rebuild her career. She has now agreed to be named, according to the report, citing court filings.
With Canada’s largest bank RBC countersuing its former CFO in defence of a very public wrongful dismissal accusation, experts are advising HR professionals to take a close look at their policies around employee personal relationships — if they even have them.
Blackberry’s demand, denial of allegations
Giamatteo and BlackBerry denied Sandhu's allegations. They claimed she lost her job not because she reported harassment, but because she was part of a layoff that cut more than 200 staff from the firm. The move was part of the company separating its cybersecurity and Internet of Things (IoT) businesses, they claimed, according to the CP report.
"We continue to see no merit in the claims made by the plaintiff and will continue to defend vigorously against them,” Blackberry spokesperson Anthony Harrison told CP via email on Monday, according to the report.
Sexual harassment is a persistent liability problem for employers, according to a previous report.
Court filing for Sandhu's case also claimed that BlackBerry and Giamatteo opposed her use of a pseudonym in the case. Sandhu wanted to remain anonymous to "avoid further retaliatory actions,” according to the report.
"(The) plaintiff hoped to remain Jane Doe to rebuild her life and career with a sense of security,” the court filing read.
"Defendants have refused to allow this and have instead insisted on using her name, which she has agreed to only because she seeks to prevent further harm to other women within the workplace."
Back in July, Judge Sallie Kim told Sandhu and her lawyers that for the case to proceed under the pseudonym, they must seek permission from the court.
Earlier this year, researchers at Thompson Rivers University and the Kamloops Sexual Assault Counselling Centre (KSACC) partnered up in a research project to try to understand why sexual harassment persists.
