LAWSUIT: WELLS FARGO SENIOR VP SUFFERED SEX HARASSMENT, DISCRIMINATION, RETALIATION
LAWSUIT: Wells Fargo Ignored Sexual Harassment, Discrimination Of Female Senior Vice President Who Was Subjected To Hostile Work Environment, Fired In Retaliation
**Attorney Ron Zambrano is available for interviews. Doe will not be speaking to media.**
In an ongoing systematic failure to protect its female employees from harassment and discrimination, Wells Fargo Bank is again being sued by a former Senior Vice President alleging repeated discrimination and sexual harassment that went virtually unaddressed for years.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court by plaintiff Jane Doe names as defendants Wells Fargo Bank and Carl Nelson, a Vice President and Senior Private Banker who was Doe’s superior, Case No: 23STCV09856 (May 3, 2023).
The complaint is the latest in a string of lawsuits against the bank over harassment and discrimination amidst an investigation by the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission into the financial institution’s woefully inadequate efforts to protect its employees from such egregious behavior, according to Doe’s attorney, Ron Zambrano, a partner and the Employment Litigation Chair at West Coast Employment Lawyers.
Wednesday’s lawsuit comes just about three months after Zambrano sued Wells Fargo on behalf of another Jane Doe, also a former Senior Vice President, who alleged she was raped, harassed and retaliated against while working out of the company’s Manhattan Beach office. Jane Doe in the latest lawsuit had worked out of the downtown Los Angeles office and in the same Private Bank Sector as the previous complainant.
“There is a seemingly entrenched apathetic culture at Wells Fargo wherein men in positions of power are left undeterred so long as they produce money for the bank,” Zambrano said. “This is evidence of an apparent rot within the system enabling high-earning male bankers to act with impunity with their most base impulses even after complaints are lodged. Wells Fargo should have done much more to not only stop this conduct, but to prevent it from going forward. Enough is enough.”
Doe was hired by Wells Fargo in Los Angeles in 2000 as a Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager. Due to her diligence and expertise, according to the lawsuit, she was promoted to Senior Vice President and Investment Strategist about five years later.
She continued to succeed and excel in the company largely unhindered from harassment until 2016 when, according to the complaint, Doe brought her fiancé into the office for lunch after which Nelson began referring to him as a “boy toy,” and proceeded to prod the plaintiff to have dinner and drinks with him instead.
The harassment only grew worse, the complaint states, as Nelson would often go into Doe’s office, close the door, and tell her she “looked tense,” then would proceed with unwanted touching and massages, despite being told repeatedly that she did not consent.
“From the years 2018 to 2020, NELSON used his authority and status to threaten Plaintiff to see him outside of work. For example, NELSON would tell Plaintiff that he would not give her any sales opportunities, unless Plaintiff went out with him. NELSON would also invite Plaintiff to his house to ‘exercise and shower with him,’” according to the lawsuit.
The suit adds that Doe repeatedly took her complaints to other managers and to Wells Fargo’s Human Resources Department but “no action was taken to prevent NELSON’s behavior.”
Despite multiple attempts to be separated from working with Nelson, the bank refused, forcing her to continue to endure gross sexual misconduct.
In addition, Doe alleges she was discriminated against because of her gender, being subjected to disciplinary actions for matters that were comparable to her male counterparts who received no discipline, and being accused of having low sales numbers when they were, in fact, higher than any other investment manager’s numbers.
When she complained, according to the suit, Doe was told “you yell too much” or “you speak too loud,” responses the plaintiff took as evoking derogatory female stereotypes “when trying to be assertive in a male- dominated setting.”
And in 2019 and 2020, Doe was twice refused commissions - one for an employee referral fee of $10,000 and another separate substantial payment she was due. Both were eventually paid but her HR supervisor alluded to the fact that Doe should “be careful next time with management,” according to the complaint, something Doe took as a threat.
She was fired in October 2020 under the pretext of pandemic-related cutbacks but alleges it was a clear instance of retaliation against her.
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About West Coast Employment Lawyers – Los Angeles-based West Coast Employment Lawyers (https://westcoastemploymentlawyers.com/) is a top-rated law firm with 100 years of collective experience. Our partners worked for the largest firm in Los Angeles, and now leverage their backgrounds and legal knowledge to stand up to the corporations they once defended. Ron Zambrano is a partner and the Employment Litigation Chair at West Coast Employment Lawyers, where he brings more than a decade of experience fighting for employee rights. Since 2008, he’s exclusively represented victims of workplace discrimination and harassment, wrongful termination, whistleblower retaliation, and wage and hour violations. Ron has settled millions of dollars in claims on behalf of aggrieved employees from various walks of life and backgrounds.
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