After being terminated in 2019, the senior manager, who was not named in the enforcement action, filed a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), alleging retaliation in violation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act’s whistleblower protection provisions. According to OSHA, the senior manager repeatedly voiced concerns to area managers and the corporate ethics line regarding conduct believed to be in violation of relevant financial laws, including wire fraud.

The senior manager expressed concerns about being “directed to falsify customer information and alleged that management was engaged in price-fixing and interest-rate collusion through exclusive dealing,” OSHA stated.

Wells Fargo initially failed to provide a reason for the termination, OSHA stated, but later alleged it terminated the manager 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,” the agency stated.

“The evidence demonstrates Wells Fargo took retaliatory action against this senior manager for repeatedly expressing concerns about financial management they believed violated federal laws,” said Doug Parker, assistant secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health. “The Sarbanes-Oxley Act protects employees from retaliation in these very circumstances, and the Department of Labor will not tolerate employers who violate the law and illegally terminate workers that exercise their rights under the law.”

Wells Fargo has been ordered to pay the employee back wages, interest, lost bonuses and benefits, front pay and compensatory damages, all of which totaled approximately $22 million. The order comes on the heels of charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission against Wells Fargo Advisors for failure to file at least 34 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) that seek to prevent money laundering.

OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Program enforces the whistleblower provisions of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act and more than 20 whistleblower statutes. These statutes protect employees from retaliation for reporting violations of workplace safety and health, aviation safety, consumer product laws, environmental laws, financial and insurance fraud, securities and tax violations, criminal antitrust, and anti-money laundering laws; as well as for engaging in other related protected activities.

Both parties have 30 days from the receipt of OSHA’s findings to file objections and request a hearing before an administrative law judge. 

Jaclyn Jaeger is a contributing editor at Compliance Chief 360° and a freelance business writer based in Manchester, New Hampshire.

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