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Wells Fargo is Accused of Discrimination and Violating Civil Rights

A minimum of eleven individuals of the bank’s multilingual customer support staff have filed a class-action lawsuit against Wells Fargo alleging discrimination.

According to a recently filed class-action complaint, Wells Fargo directed staff to “offer predatory financing alternatives” to the bank’s Spanish-speaking clients while allegedly discriminating against Mexican employees at a customer service center in San Antonio.

A lawyer from Alamo City named Lawrence Morales II filed the action on Friday in the U.S. District Court in San Antonio. Actual, consequential, and compensatory damages are what the plaintiffs are requesting. 

According to the complaint, Wells Fargo managers set up a program in 2022 where bilingual customer service agents were told to offer withdrawal products.  It was for Spanish-speaking customers “without highlighting the substantial monetary expense of the service or product to borrowers,” essentially placing the clients on the hook for extra payments ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 that they hadn’t anticipated making.

According to the lawsuit, staff members were even given laminated physical cards with the instruction to “Make the assumption the transaction will be cash out and do not inquire if they want to cash out.” 

Second Allegation against Wells Fargo

The second significant claim of discrimination made in the lawsuit relates to the Hispanic employees themselves, who contend they were prevented from participating in a pilot program that offered the chance to earn a commission. 

According to the lawsuit, “only members of the English-only team were allowed to participate in the pilot program” that began in 2021. It also claims that as a result, members of the Wells Fargo multilingual team experienced financial hardship. 

Allegedly refused access to the pilot program, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, who are all from Mexico, filed the lawsuit. In conjunction with the class-action lawsuit, at least 11 members of the multilingual team have filed a discrimination lawsuit against Wells Fargo.

During the evening of June 30, 2023, a Wells Fargo representative stated that they “don’t have any more to add to the account at this time.”

Just a month ago, the bank, which provides services to 70 million clients in 35 nations, committed to paying $1 billion to resolve claims from shareholders that it misled them about its adherence with federal authorities. It settled claims that it had improperly charged fees and interest on mortgages and car loans in December by agreeing to pay a $3.7 billion settlement.

The article was originally posted on- Kens 5 (Wells Fargo sued for discriminating against Hispanic employees | kens5.com)