JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Management level employees at Wells Fargo allegedly held "fake interviews" with people of color and women in order to falsify diversity efforts, the New York Times reported Thursday.
Emily Flitter reports that former executive Joe Bruno, who she says worked his way up to market leader for Wells Fargo Advisors in Jacksonville, claimed that diverse candidates would regularly be interviewed for sham jobs that were already filled or promised to somebody else.
Bruno is reportedly one of at least seven current and former Wells Fargo employees who have made similar claims against the company, The Times reports.
The Times reports that Wells Fargo adopted a formal policy that requires management to bring in and interview a profile of candidates that were diverse for available jobs paying more than $100,000 annually.
Bruno reportedly complained about the practice to his superiors but was later fired.
In an interview with The Times, he tells Emily Flitter that Wells Fargo retaliated against him for blowing the whistle on a practice that was “inappropriate, morally wrong, ethically wrong.”
Wells Fargo told The Times that he was fired for retaliating against a fellow employee.
Wells Fargo has the following statement in response to the recent story in The New York Times:
"Yesterday, The New York Times published a story alleging that a handful of Wells Fargo managers decided to hire a job candidate and then — after making this decision — interviewed diverse candidates knowing that the seat had already been filled. We researched all specific claims the reporter shared with us in advance of the story’s publication and could not corroborate the claims as factual."