Wells Fargo ordered to reinstate, pay California whistleblower

The Department of Labor has ordered Wells Fargo to reinstate and pay $577,500 in back wages, damages and other fees to a former branch manager in Pomona, Calif., according to statement on the agency’s website.

The branch manager was terminated after she reported conduct by at least three private bankers working under her that she believed to be bank, wire and mail fraud.

The statement didn’t identify the whistleblower. But as American Banker reported in April, the department's Occupation Safety and Health Administration said it was likely to issue such an order for a former Pomona-based bank manager named Claudia Ponce de Leon.

Wells Fargo is rewiring itself in the wake of last year's phony-accounts scandal, centralizing an organization that previously gave retail banking managers considerable autonomy.

Last week the company said that 113,000 employees — or about 42% of the company’s entire workforce — have been reassigned over the last 18 months.