Wells Fargo Told to Rehire Whistle-Blower, Pay $5.4 Million

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government ordered Wells Fargo & Co. to reinstate a former bank manager who was fired after reporting suspected illegal behavior to his superiors and on a company hotline.

The manager, who wasn't identified, was dismissed in 2010 after reporting on incidents of suspected bank, mail and wire fraud by two bankers in the Los Angeles area, according to a statement Monday from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The San Francisco-based lender also was ordered to give the whistle-blower about $5.4 million in back pay, compensatory damages and legal fees after OSHA determined his warnings were at least a contributing factor in the termination.

While the agency didn't elaborate on the alleged misconduct, regulators announced in September that Wells Fargo employees sought for years to meet aggressive sales targets by opening unauthorized accounts for customers. The scandal triggered investigations and congressional hearings, prompting the lender to shake up leadership, deny bonuses to executives, and fire some senior managers in the consumer business.

Wells Fargo said it disagreed with OSHA's findings and would request a full hearing on the matter, bank spokesman Vince Scanlon said in an emailed statement. “This decision is a preliminary order and to date there has been no hearing on the merits of this case,” he said in the statement. “We take seriously the concerns of current and former team members.”

While the lender can appeal the decision, that doesn't stay the preliminary order, according to OSHA's statement.

The whistle-blower, who had previously received positive job performance reviews, was told he had 90 days to find a new job at Wells Fargo after reporting on the two bankers, according to the statement. He was fired after his search was unsuccessful and has been unable to find work in the banking industry since.

Scanlon said the employee worked for the private bank division of Wells Fargo's wealth-management unit, while declining to identify him.

To contact the reporter on this story: Laura J. Keller in New York at lkeller22@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Peter Eichenbaum at peichenbaum@bloomberg.net, Steven Crabill, Steve Dickson