A fired Wells Fargo & Co. senior manager could receive more than $22 million from the bank as part of a whistleblower award ordered Thursday by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The agency determined Wells Fargo violated the whistleblower protection provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act by improperly terminating in 2019 a Chicago area-based senior manager in its commercial banking segment.
The fine involves back wages, interest, lost bonuses and benefits, front pay and compensatory damages.
OSHA said its Chicago office determined Wells Fargo terminated the unidentified senior manager "who had repeatedly voiced concerns to area managers and the corporate ethics line regarding conduct they believed violated relevant financial laws, including wire fraud."
The senior manager was basing the whistleblower complaint upon violations of required training.
"The manager expressed concerns that they were directed to falsify customer information, and alleged that management was engaged in price fixing and interest rate collusion through exclusive dealing," according to the statement.
OSHA said that after the bank "initially failed to provide a reason for the termination, (it) later alleged the manager was terminated as part of a restructuring process."
"However, investigators found the removal was not consistent with Wells Fargo's treatment of other managers removed under the initiative."
Doug Parker, an assistant secretary for OSHA, said "the evidence...
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