Former Guaranteed Rate loan officer, Megan McDermott, is suing her former employer and two of its high-producing loan officers for alleged acts of sexual harassment and gender discrimination. McDermott filed her complaint against Chicago-based G-Rate in February 2024, but more explosive allegations were aired by the Chicago Tribune in an investigative article, published June 15.
In the lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey Morris County, McDermott claims the defendant, G-Rate senior vice president and area manager, Jon Lamkin, sexually harassed her at a corporate event while the other defendant, G-Rate senior vice president and regional manager, Joseph Moschella, pressured her not to report the incident to human resources.
Additionally, McDermott claims she met with the defendants, Moschella and Lamkin, in January 2022 to explain that she had been getting offers from other companies, which included substantial signing bonuses. McDermott claims she requested a retention bonus for her willingness to stay with G-Rate, but the defendants allegedly told her that no loan officers were getting retention bonuses, nor were they.
However, McDermott claims she later found out that the defendants were not truthful, alleging G-Rate’s male loan officers with comparable levels of success had been and were receiving sizable retention bonuses. McDermott claims that when she went back to Moschella to request a retention bonus again, he allegedly told McDermott that it was true that loan officers had gotten retention bonuses, but he could not provide her one.
Last year, G-Rate founder and CEO Victor Ciardelli launched a “financial wellness” and “personal well-being” app before a live audience in Time Square, New York City, alongside celebrity Deepak Chopra. Despite Ciardelli’s statement made in a video of the event that “Something we are passionate about at Guaranteed Rate is caring about people,” many former employees told the Chicago Tribune that was not their impression while working there. Rather, they claimed to have experienced or witnessed “persistent verbal abuse and misogynistic environment” while working at G-Rate.
The Chicago Tribune's article contains the claims of 80 former G-Rate employees and reviewed court records, internal company emails, written exit interviews, and text messages.
Witnesses told the Chicago Tribune that Ciardelli was unhappy in the days following the launch of the app. They claim he referred to employees as “failures,” complained that the team did not show him from a particular camera angle and said “Marketing is a f−−−ing disaster,” according to two executives who were on the calls.
Former staff also told the publication that Ciardelli was “quick to berate, swear at, and demean employees.”
Other than McDermott, former employees claim they did not bring their complaints to human resources because they thought Ciardelli or other executives and managers meddled in the department’s business and might retaliate. Only two former employees told the Tribune they’d observed how company leaders protected certain staff members. Others claimed they did complain but felt the department didn’t take information seriously.
“Every person that works directly under Mr. Ciardelli is terrified of his potential anger outbursts,” one former assistant wrote to human resources after she was let go from the company a couple of years ago, according to an email reviewed by the Tribune.
The Chicago Tribune stated that in response to a detailed list of questions, Ciardelli and Guaranteed Rate vehemently denied all of these allegations, describing the company as a positive workplace environment where women, in particular, are supported.
“The firm went to remarkable lengths to dispute the allegations, including sending the results of a worker satisfaction survey it conducted and forwarding more than 80 testimonials from current and former employees. Among them were five of Ciardelli’s current or former assistants, as well as numerous male and female executives praising his leadership and support,” the article read.
G-Rate also threatened to sue the Chicago Tribune for defamation before the reporters’ list of questions was ever sent, the article stated.
A spokesperson for G-Rate responded to NMP's request for comment, saying "The article published by the Chicago Tribune was a hit piece written to tarnish our company's reputation. We categorically disagree with what was written in the article and believe it to be inaccurate. Much of the article was fueled by former disgruntled employees who are now working with a competitor."
"We provided the Chicago Tribune with a tremendous amount of information that debunked the story that was irresponsibly written," the spokesperson added. "We provided them with over 80 testimonials of current female executives, top female loan officers and former company employees documenting their positive experience at the company and love for the culture."
The G-Rate spokesperson also said the article "will not deter us from having fun," and the company shall continue staying positive, supporting one another, and serving customers.
The plaintiff's attorney did not respond to NMP's request for comment.
