The suit includes claims of wrongful termination, retaliation, unlawful business practices and failure to pay wages.
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The revelations are a severe hit to Wells Fargo’s reputation. Polonsky and Zaghi filed applications matching customer requests and were counseled, demoted and later terminated, the lawsuit said.
Wells Fargo was fined $185 million by regulators earlier this month for fraudulently opening over two million deposit and credit card accounts that were allegedly not authorised by customers.
“Employees with a conscience who tried to meet quotas without engaging in fraud were the biggest victims, losing wages, benefits and suffering anxiety, humiliation and embarrassment”, the lawsuit said. “Although this policy was known to top executives of defendants, plaintiffs, as bankers, were blamed for harm to clients and retaliated against”.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told CEO John Stumpf he is “gutless” when he appeared before the Senate Banking Committee last week for a hearing about the racket.
“Wells Fargo employees created fake email addresses to enroll customers in hidden accounts creating pin numbers that customers didn’t even know existed”, said Oliver.
While the main event was his comprehensive takedown of Donald Trump’s far worse scandals when compared to those of his opponent, Hillary Clinton, and while he largely ignored Ted Cruz’s cowardly endorsement of Trump (“a nightmare endorsing a panic attack”, he quipped), Oliver did reserve some of his exquisite bite for Wells Fargo in the wake of their banking scandal. They classify it as a “fraudulent scam” designed “to squeeze employees to the breaking point so they would cheat customers”.
A 2013 LA Times investigation found a culture that left some employees desperate to reach quotas, whether it was forging signatures or begging family members to open additional accounts. Bankers were “coached” to secretly open fee-generating accounts and often resorted to using false customer contact information like [email protected] on accounts so they could not be traced back, according to the complaint.
A former bank manager Rita Murillo told the paper: ‘We were constantly told we would end up working for McDonald’s.
CEO John Stumpf was paid $19.3million in 2015 and has been awarded several “Banker of the Year” awards from industry organizations, CNN reported.
“This gets one step worse, because the total fine for Wells Fargo’s behavior was $185 million-which is nothing considering they made $23 billion in profit just past year, and it’s even less than Stumpf himself could walk away with if he does resign”, said Oliver, alluding to Stumpf’s estimated $200 million in payouts should he tender his resignation. “They are the employees that this lawsuit seeks to redress”.
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The bank also faces suits by customers in federal court in Utah and investors in state court in San Francisco. His top priority is leading Wells Fargo, ‘ Wells Fargo spokesman Mark Folk said in an email.
