I have been a meets and exceeds employee within frontline risk organization for the last few years, primarily doing testing. I recently discovered what appears to be a cover up of regulation violations that supposedly had been resolved. I discussed with my manager; she told me to "stay in my lane" I tried to discuss what I found with her peer manager. A few days later I was moved to a new team. I went to ER, they seemed interested, but weeks have gone by and I have not heard back. I don't have any real assignments now and my new manager tells me to be patient and avoids me, I guess this is a "quiet firing" as described by others. I am afraid for my job, I can't afford to lose it right now. My friends tell me to get a lawyer, which is a broad statement. I am looking for a new job, but that takes time. appreciate any helpful ideas. Please be kind, this has been a nightmare.
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Would this team member experience this much drama if we had a union?
Thank you all for the suggestions. I did report it as unethical and feel that was a mistake. I wrote down details, but how can I document this? I work in a busy office, so taking photos of my monitor is out of the question. My focus now is to get out of this place, I’ll consider a lawyer after I get a new job, I have a family to support.
Get an employment lawyer now - this is whistleblower retaliation- you can also report to the SEC
Call hr to make sure there is record of your concern. It already sounds like an unethical situation and leaning toward retaliation. They cannot cause impact to your job if you report. I did this and I am glad I did. It was handled professionally and my concerns were addressed and heard. Many are saying do not report, but from my experience it was positive and I have sensed absolutely no retaliation.
Did you ever end up going to the EEOC? And if so, do you feel your job is in jeopardy?
Document everything, and Google what to do if employer retaliates against you. You might also want to check the laws in your state regarding retaliation.
Whatever you do, do not go to the Ethicsline, I went there more than 3 months ago with documented issues showing unethical behavior at best and likely illegal in reality. You can see my posts about it here...
https://www.thelayoff.com/t/1gE9DTMC
https://www.thelayoff.com/t/1hf9rA3V
My complaint still has yet to be addressed, no comments no questions. When I called recently and spoke to an agent they have no SLA on a response and in my opinion are waiting out potential statute of limitations. Remember Wells only wants to look out for itself.
Follow the advice of other posters here and document everything and consider a lawyer.
Sorry this is happening to you
Reminds me of when I worked as a Quality Review Auditor in the underwriting dept. I discovered fraud. Yes, blatant and outright fraud committed by the client and possible loan officer. Borrower/Client was working on obtaining a second loan to commit another fraud. Essentially, WF does not lend on commercial properties and client was trying to get a residential loan on a commercial (care home) property. Client swore in the first loan obtained two years prior to occupy as primary, even receiving a better interest rate, and signed a Deed of Trust promising such. Client never did occupy. Client got her business license and turned the property into a care home within weeks. And, now two years later trying to obtain another owner occupied loan on an active “care home” property. I sent all documentation to the fraud dept. for further research. I was reprimanded for not dealing with it internally. Never heard what became of the issue but I don’t feel sorry one bit as I was protecting the bank and it’s depositors. This loan was unsellable and had it defaulted would have been an automatic repurchase by the bank, affecting the depositors savings. Fraud affects everyone. Wait until the bank does a ‘bail in’ on your funds because of fraudulent loans.
Ethics line?
Don’t go to the ethics line because that is not confidential. I don’t care what they say I’ve seen evidence that it’s not.
Serious advice OP: stuff running through HR often takes MONTHS to reach a resolution. Just because you don't see any movement doesn't mean things aren't happening behind the scenes. Nothing wrong with contacting the ethics line either, but HR processes move at a crawl.
Call the EthicsLine
That’s what it is there for
Unable to share full details but something similar happened with me.
I found something that would be newspaper worthy. I asked for the issue ID in SHRP to ensure that it was being addressed.
My manager said it was being addressed as part of a project. Two years later... crickets. Nothing was addressed.
No one wants to touch if because it involves failures of legal and compliance.
I did my job. I escalated. Documented it. Nothing else I can do.
They don’t want anything to negatively impact consent order progress.
They only divulge what they want. The bank is still a mess.
Document and date your attempts to notify management and the reactions you received. Do NOT store the document on ANY WF device but rather store it on a personal device. This way, you will at least have the documented circumstances should it become necessary.
Just go ahead and tell us. We'll tell you what to do next.
Is your contact with the two managers documented? Save it. Sorry, you are in a lonely place right now. Maybe come up with a resolution to fix? Otherwise, whistle-blower route.
Best not to say anything to anyone. Keep your head down and just let the situation smolder on it's own.
Always remember that at WF the problem isn't the "problem" -- the person who reports the problem is the "problem".
Apologize to your manager and admit that you were wrong (even if you weren't).
nyt+1ioatj4c, "Google what a whistleblower is ". Agree. I wouldn't bother with a lawyer. All of this whistleblowing will come up on your background check, and make prospective employers nervous about hiring you.
Let them fire you. It's not the end of the world, and you can collect unemployment.
You'll find another job, and bounce back. Yes, it's rough now, but this, too, shall pass.
In the meantime, just keep doing what you need to do, and ride it out.
Get a lawyer and file a whistleblower claim ASAP. It gets you protections and money if/when Wells is found to be in the wrong.
Otherwise you'll just get fired with only Wells' side of the argument being documented.
Before you do anything I would Google what it’s like to be a whistleblower. It’s not the big “eff-you WF” most think it is. You may be right in your accusations, you may prevail in getting part of a settlement or penalty if you are but those are slim odds and the other aspects of being a whistleblower are not terribly appealing.
Good luck.
Gather up as much detailed documentation as you can and call a whistleblower law firm, sometimes called Qui Tam firms.
I’d go to the media at this point and lawyer up. You gave them a chance. Make sure your evidence is airtight. If they want to silence you make them regret it.