A former registered client associate for one of the largest wealth managers alleges two financial advisors sexually harassed her and the company retaliated against her for reporting it.
Stephanie Henninger accuses Ameriprise of a hostile work environment due to the conduct of advisors Michael S. Maher and Stephen M. Waite II and unlawful retaliation including a demotion to receptionist and compliance administrator, according to the case filed April 30 in New Jersey’s Somerset County court. On June 8, the case moved to federal court due to the alleged damages likely being above $75,000 and the presence of interstate parties, the latest filings show.
The civil case came the same month a
In Henninger’s case involving an office in Bedminster, New Jersey, between April 2016 and October 2019, she says Maher and Waite made lewd comments and Maher touched female employees’ arms, backs and waists and continued doing so even after she complained to management.
“The conduct was severe or pervasive enough to make a reasonable female believe that the conditions of employment were altered and the working environment was intimidating, hostile or abusive,” the complaint states. “Defendants knew or should have known that the conduct was harassing and discriminatory and failed to take effective remedial measures to stop it or prevent the harassment from occurring.”
In sum, the document continues, Ameriprise “acted egregiously, maliciously, wantonly or willfully in disregard” of Henninger’s rights under the state’s Law Against Discrimination. The lawsuit was first reported by the website
“We take any allegation of harassment extremely seriously,” Ameriprise spokeswoman Kathleen McClung said in an emailed statement. “When Ms. Henninger raised her initial concerns to us, we investigated them and took appropriate action. She later filed a lawsuit making new claims that we believe are without merit. To be clear, the conduct as described in the lawsuit is completely at odds with our culture and values as a company.”
Maher and Waite, who are still registered with Ameriprise on FINRA BrokerCheck and working out of respective branches in Bedminster and Center Valley, Pennsylvania, didn’t respond to requests for comment on the allegations. Lawyers for Henninger didn’t respond to inquiries either.
Citing the fact that it’s based in Minnesota and Delaware, Henninger is a Pennsylvania resident, and the fact that the alleged damages are likely to be substantial even though they’re not explicitly stated, Ameriprise filed the notice of removal to federal district court this week.
Henninger first worked for Maher in 2016. She alleges his inappropriate and “sexually harassing conduct” started at the beginning of her tenure and extended, despite her reporting it to the branch manager and operations leaders, until she was reassigned in December 2018. In one episode from that year, he “pulled his pants tight against his groin, revealing a bulge” and asked her if she thought it made his pants fit tighter, according to the lawsuit.
Another time, he told her “that a former male colleague of his asked him, ‘How is your hot piece of ass assistant doing?,’ referring to [Henninger] and showing [her] a text where the colleague asked for a picture of her,” the lawsuit states.
Her managers later moved her to a support role for Waite, according to the document. He took her out to lunch and told her he was considering “having her pose in his dad’s blue Lamborghini as a picture for his Ameriprise website.” Waite also showed her a picture from a car show of a couple he described as swingers, with the man groping the woman, Henninger alleges in the lawsuit.
The “nonchalant” response of a manager to her complaint and the previous incidents caused her “severe mental and emotional stress” to the point that she had a breakdown and took a leave of absence in July 2019, the document states. In September of that year, she entered a partial hospitalization program to receive treatment for five weeks, according to the lawsuit.
While company officials said they had “dealt with” Maher and “addressed [her] concerns” about Waite, their October 2019 appointment of her to the receptionist and compliance administrator position in Bedminster “was effectively a demotion,” the lawsuit states. The week after they informed her she would be working in the same office as Waite with no eligibility for “cut-in” bonuses paid to client associates, Henninger resigned from the firm, according to the document.
Henninger is no longer registered with any wealth managers after a 10-year financial services tenure that included three other prior firms, BrokerCheck shows. Her lawyers served Ameriprise with the two-count complaint on May 10, the notice of removal states. Ameriprise didn’t admit any of the allegations in Henninger’s complaint as part of changing the venue. District Judge Michael Shipp and Magistrate Judge Tonianne Bongiovanni are overseeing the case.
