美国国家公共电台 NPR Workers Say Wells Fargo Unfairly Scarred Their Careers

Workers Say Wells Fargo Unfairly Scarred Their Careers

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The fallout from the banking² scandal that engulfed³ Wells Fargo continues. To recap, bank employees opened up as many as 2 million accounts for customers who didn't want them or didn't even know they existed. Regulators call that fraud, and they hit the bank with penalties totaling $185 million. Wells Fargo says it's now moving forward. It's fired thousands of wrongdoers. Problem solved. Not exactly. NPR's Chris Arnold joins us now for more.

Good morning.

CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE⁴: Good morning, Renee.

MONTAGNE: Now, when the news of a banking scandal broke, Chris, the victims seemed to be customers of Wells Fargo. But you've been finding that a lot of employees who say, if anything, they've actually been hurt worse. How can they say that?

ARNOLD: I've been talking to folks, former Wells Fargo employees, who say look, I was doing everything right. I was calling the ethics⁵ line. I was not doing anything wrong. And they say, despite doing the right thing, Wells Fargo fired them. And then it did something else. It went beyond that and put a stain on their permanent record that's followed them since they've left Wells Fargo and made it very difficult for them to find jobs, and so this has really hurt their careers.

JEREMY: I specifically said I will not do these things - falsifying signatures, pushing products on people that they didn't need.

ARNOLD: That's Jeremy, who worked in Wells Fargo branches in Los Angeles starting back in 2005. He just wants to use his first name. And he remembers, one night in 2007, he got invited by some branch managers to a Lakers basketball game. And some of them asked him - hey, how come his branch had such good sales numbers?

JEREMY: So I broke it down for them. And I said here's what it is. There's a lot of people in our branch that are doing some shady things.

ARNOLD: That is, hitting their sales numbers by giving customers credit cards or checking accounts that they never asked for. In the bank, that was called gaming your sales numbers.

JEREMY: At the Lakers game, I told the other managers, including the district manager, about the gaming that was going on and how I didn't approve of it. I didn't like it. That was kind of a pivotal moment for me where I realized something was kind of weird⁶ going on. I spoke⁷ too much. It got back to my manager, and he's like, buddy⁸, what's going on here? My bankers don't game.

ARNOLD: Now, Jeremy says his manager absolutely knew there was shady stuff going on in the office because Jeremy kept telling him about it, especially when his boss would pressure him to push products on customers. At one point, he says the bankers were told to sell 20 products every single day.

JEREMY: I literally⁹ took printouts where one of the bankers had over 60 sales. I think there was maybe, like, 20 checking accounts for one person - personal checking accounts. And I said this is gaming. She's your No. 1 salesperson¹⁰. You want me to be like her? And he says buddy, this is all garbage. This is crap. I don't care about what they're doing. I care what you're doing.

ARNOLD: So Jeremy says he couldn't believe it when, in late 2008, his manager called him into his office and Jeremy says he was told basically he could quit or the bank was going to open an investigation¹¹ into whether he gave people accounts without their consent. And, he says, he was told there was a good chance that he'd be fired. Jeremy figured this was retribution for his speaking out. He says he was 26 years old, and he just got scared and he quit.

JEREMY: I went to lunch and came back. And I said, no, I'm out of here. I'm done.

ARNOLD: But it wasn't that simple. Jeremy didn't realize it at the time, but Wells Fargo wrote him up on what's called his U5 document. That's like a report card for bankers and brokers¹², and this put a big red flag on that. And Jeremy soon found that he could not get hired by any other bank. He got plenty of leads. For one in San Francisco, he jumped in his car at 3 o'clock in the morning and drove straight up from LA. Jeremy's wife was about to have a baby, so he really needed this job.

JEREMY: And I'll never forget meeting with this guy, a really nice guy. And he said listen, man. You're exactly what we're looking for. You've got the drive. You've got the motivation. You know, you know the industry. Let's go ahead - let's go through the formalities and get you on the job. I got so excited and called up my wife - looks like we're moving to San Francisco. You know, finally, we're going to have income.

ARNOLD: But then the bank ran a background check, pulled his U5, and Jeremy didn't hear back.

JEREMY: After about a week, finally gave the HR lady a call and said - hey, just wanted to follow up, see what's going on in the process. And she said, I'm sorry. We went with another candidate. This was the lowest point in my life. I get emotional every time I tell this story. I just sat there, hung up the phone. I just cried.

ARNOLD: Jeremy was out of work for six months, living off credit cards. But then, at another job interview, he finally figured it out.

JEREMY: It was a hiring manager. And she brought me outside. And she says listen, I'm not really supposed to say anything because it's an HR issue, but I'll tell you. I really liked you, but there's this thing on your U5 that - I can't hire you. So I apologize, but we can't do it. And I said, what the heck is it? She goes, I don't know. That's all I was told by HR.

ARNOLD: It turns out that Wells Fargo wrote an Jeremy's U5 report card that he admitted to opening accounts for customers without their authorization¹³. A bank is required to report wrongdoing on a U5. But Jeremy says, in his case, this just was not true.

JEREMY: The second that I found out about the U5 information, I was appalled¹⁴. And now it all made sense.

ARNOLD: That is, all the times he'd get so close to getting a job, only to have it get yanked away after a background check. Actually, though, more recently, that's changed. Jeremy figured he'd try applying for jobs where the bank might not check his U5, for instance, a job where he'd deal with businesses rather than regular customers. And that works. He says his career is still limited, but at least he's got a solid job. But others haven't been so fortunate. It's still unclear how many workers this has happened to, but we spoke to former Wells Fargo employees in San Francisco, New Jersey¹⁵, Florida, Los Angeles and Pennsylvania. They all said that they were fired or pushed to resign after resisting, like Jeremy did. They got a stain on their U5s, and most have been unable to get another job with a major bank.

Wells Fargo tells NPR in a statement that it's, quote, "disturbing to hear claims of retaliation¹⁶ against team members." The bank says it's investigating those claims. The bank also says it is assisting former employees to be rehired when possible. But former employees we talked to say they want more than that. Jonathan Delshad is an attorney bringing a class-action lawsuit¹⁷ against Wells Fargo on behalf of former employees. He says, many ask him...

JONATHAN DELSHAD: Is it possible, through your lawsuit, to get my U5 cleaned up? - because that's what I care about the most here.

ARNOLD: Delshad says, the workers who did the right thing, who pushed back against the wrongdoing in their branches and who were fired or pushed to resign, he says, Wells Fargo now owes it to them to get this career-ending stain off their records.

MONTAGNE: And Chris, what, though, exactly can be done to get this off their records?

ARNOLD: Well, what we know is that it is difficult and expensive. If you feel you've got something inaccurate¹⁸ or unfair on one of these so-called U5 records, it costs tens of thousands of dollars to hire a good lawyer, to sue the bank - and all of that with no guarantee of winning your case. And then you've spent all this money, and nothing's happened. So the people we've been talking to - they were mostly, like, lower-level salespeople¹⁹. They can't afford that. But given what they've been through, they would just love it if Wells Fargo did something to help them clear up their records.

MONTAGNE: Chris, thanks very much.

That's NPR's Chris Arnold.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

3 engulfed   

v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was engulfed by a crowd of reporters. 他被一群记者团团围住。
• The little boat was engulfed by the waves. 小船被波浪吞没了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

6 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 buddy   

n.（美口）密友，伙伴

参考例句：

• Calm down,buddy.What's the trouble?压压气，老兄。有什么麻烦吗？
• Get out of my way,buddy!别挡道了，你这家伙！

9 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

10 salesperson   

n.售货员，营业员，店员

参考例句：

• A salesperson works in a shop.售货员在商店工作。
• Vanessa is a salesperson in a woman's wear department.凡妮莎是女装部的售货员。

11 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

12 brokers   

n.（股票、外币等）经纪人( broker的名词复数 )；中间人；代理商；（订合同的）中人v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的第三人称单数 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排…

参考例句：

• The firm in question was Alsbery & Co., whiskey brokers. 那家公司叫阿尔斯伯里公司，经销威士忌。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• From time to time a telephone would ring in the brokers' offices. 那两排经纪人房间里不时响着叮令的电话。 来自子夜部分

13 authorization   

n.授权，委任状

参考例句：

• Anglers are required to obtain prior authorization from the park keeper.垂钓者必须事先得到公园管理者的许可。
• You cannot take a day off without authorization.未经批准你不得休假。

14 appalled   

v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• They were appalled by the reports of the nuclear war. 他们被核战争的报道吓坏了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

16 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

18 inaccurate   

adj.错误的，不正确的，不准确的

参考例句：

• The book is both inaccurate and exaggerated.这本书不但不准确，而且夸大其词。
• She never knows the right time because her watch is inaccurate.她从来不知道准确的时间因为她的表不准。

19 salespeople   

n.售货员，店员；售货员( salesperson的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The shop usually employs additional salespeople for the Christmas toy trade. 这家商店通常雇一些临时售货员来做圣诞节玩具生意。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Under our new system, salespeople sit down with each of our dealers. 根据新的制度，销售人员应逐个地同承销商洽商。 来自辞典例句