"It is clearly against the law for any company (or executives of such companies) to try to suppress whistleblowing," Harvey Pitt, former chairman of the SEC, told CNNMoney in an email.Ī number of statutes - including Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank - "make this unambiguously clear," Pitt said. It's possible Wells Fargo could face legal consequences for any retaliation that occurred against employees who called the ethics line.
CNNMoney has taken steps to confirm that the workers who spoke anonymously did work at Wells Fargo and in some cases interviewed colleagues who corroborated their reports. and they showed up at 8:32 a.m, they would fire them," the former human resources official told CNNMoney, on the condition he remain anonymous out of fear for his career.ĬNNMoney spoke to a total of four ex-Wells Fargo workers, including Bado, who believe they were fired because they tipped off the bank about unethical sales practices.Īnother six former Wells Fargo employees told CNNMoney they witnessed similar behavior at Wells Fargo - even though the company has a policy in place that is supposed to prevent retaliation against whistleblowers. "If this person was supposed to be at the branch at 8:30 a.m. It could be as simple as monitoring the employee to find a fault, like showing up a few minutes late on several occasions. He said that Wells Fargo would find ways to fire employees "in retaliation for shining light" on sales issues. One former Wells Fargo human resources official even said the bank had a method in place to retaliate against tipsters. He mentioned the anonymous ethics line, adding, "We want to hear from them."īut that's not the experience of some former Wells Fargo workers. "Each team member, no matter where you are in the organization, is encouraged to raise their hands," Stumpf told lawmakers. Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf made precisely that point on Tuesday when he testified before angry Senators.
Ethics hotlines are exactly the kind of safeguards put in place to prevent illegal activity from taking place and provide refuge to employees from dangerous work environments. Retaliating against whistleblowers is a major breach of trust. Related: Elizabeth Warren's epic takedown of Wells Fargo CEO Eight days after that email, a copy of which CNNMoney obtained, Bado was terminated.
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