Wells Fargo is at the center of yet another scandal after a whistleblower alleged that the company interviewed candidates of color for jobs that didn’t exist.
Joe Bruno, who was employed with Wells Fargo’s wealth management division at their corporate offices in Jacksonville, Florida, broke the story to The New York Times. Last summer, he was fired after complaining to his superiors that the sham interviews were “inappropriate, morally wrong, ethically wrong.”
Bruno and seven current and former bank employees claimed their bosses instructed them to interview “diverse” candidates despite the position not existing or already being filled. The interviews were used to make Wells Fargo appear to be a corporation working hard to diversify its workforce. This kept them out of trouble with government regulators who track equality-based hiring. The sham interviews mainly affected Black female candidates.
Wells Fargo spokesperson, Raschelle Burton, said that the company does not tolerate “the behavior as described by The New York Times.”
This is not the first time Wells Fargo has been in the news regarding their discriminatory practices. A 2021 Bloomberg News analysis reported that only 47% of the Black homeowners who applied for home refinancing in 2020 were approved by Wells Fargo as opposed to 72% of white homeowners. They also approved more white applicants for new mortgage loans than Black applicants. The company is currently facing a class-action lawsuit in this matter.
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