Wells Fargo has gone through no shortage of scandals in recent years, and now it has more bad news. In late April, Wells Fargo agreed to shell out $9.5 million in a settlement over allegations that it did not pay financial advisors their commissions in a timely manner and routinely failed to reimburse them for their incurred expenses.
Through the settlement, about 2,200 current and former Wells Fargo financial advisors will receive an average payout of $2,783 each.
Background of the lawsuit
The advisors first filed their lawsuit against Wells Fargo in 2014, claiming Wells Fargo’s failure to pay these commissions and reimbursements broke California’s state labor laws. The bank’s own standards were to pay its advisors every two weeks, with the second check of each month including the commission the advisor earned in the previous month.
Wells Fargo argued the wages were paid in the pay period after the one in which they were earned, and that doing so sooner would be “administratively impractical.” However, advisors said the practice resulted in unfair delaying of pay.
This decision comes as the United States Department of Labor continues to investigate Wells Fargo for reportedly pressuring customers to enroll in high-cost individual retirement accounts, and shortly after the bank was fined $1 billion for mortgage and auto insurance practices.
For further advice on how you can blow the whistle on unfair labor practices in the workplace, speak with an experienced Dallas lawyer at Kardell Law Group.
