The Oregonian | By Jayati Ramakrishnan | September 23, 2020
A Portland man has accused Wells Fargo bank of discriminating against him, after he says a banker refused to open a bank account for him after learning he was Black.
Paul Dawson filed a lawsuit in Multnomah County on Monday. The “Banking While Black” complaint alleges racial discrimination and seeks injunctive relief from the San Francisco-based bank.
The complaint says that on March 26, Dawson called Wells Fargo to ask about setting up a bank account. According to court documents, during the call the bank employee allegedly asked if Mr. Dawson was Black. After Dawson told him yes, the employee allegedly told Dawson that Wells Fargo “isn’t the bank for you” and hung up.
Dawson is seeking $1 in nominal damages, as well as a jury trial. He also is asking Wells Fargo to stop racially discriminating against people.
“In cases of racial discrimination, the focus is not so much what happened to our client, but on impact litigation — getting the company to change its practices,” said Michael Fuller, Dawson’s attorney. “This keeps the focus on Wells Fargo and what they did.”
Dawson’s attorney Michael Fuller said his client, an inmate at Oregon State Penitentiary, called Wells Fargo and requested an account over the phone. On March 31, five days after the call, Dawson documented the incident, filling out an inmate communications form for the Department of Corrections to request a copy of the phone call.
“The lady on the phone asked me if I was ‘Black’ and that I was talking ‘ghetto,’ and Wells Fargo was not the bank for me and I should go to a credit union,” Dawson wrote. “This was very racist and hurtful. I am just scared that Wells Fargo will delete the call and I’ll have no way to prove what happened.”
Documents provided by Fuller to The Oregonian/OregonLive show that on April 6, a Department of Corrections employee responded confirming that prison administrators did hear the phone call and the racist comment.
In an email to The Oregonian/OregonLive, Wells Fargo said it was assessing the lawsuit.
“We take allegations of discrimination regarding our customers and employees very seriously. As a financial services company serving diverse communities, we are committed to providing fair and equal access to financial products and services for everyone.
Wells Fargo did not answer questions about whether they had listened to the recording of the phone call, or if the employee had been disciplined.
According to a letter provided by Fuller, Wells Fargo responded to Dawson on June 25, saying they did not tolerate discrimination, and that they would “work to understand what happened to cause this experience.” The letter did not make any direct reference to Dawson’s phone call or the racist comments.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that Wells Fargo’s chief executive had reportedly made comments about a lack of qualified Black applicants in a memo and Zoom meeting to staff earlier this summer.
“While it might sound like an excuse, the unfortunate reality is that there is a very limited pool of Black talent to recruit from,” Charles Scharf, the head of the company, said in a meeting with employees.
The comment upset some employees, as well as other Black executives in corporate America.
“There is an amazing amount of Black talent out there,” Ken Bacon, a board member for Comcast Corp, Ally Financial and Welltower Inc., told Reuters. “If people say they can’t find it, they either aren’t looking hard enough or don’t want to find it.”
A spokesperson for Wells Fargo told Reuters that Scharf had committed to doubling the company’s number of Black leaders over the next five years, as well as other efforts to increase diversity within the company.
In August, Bloomberg News reported that Wells Fargo paid $7.8 million to settle claims that they discriminated against Black and women applicants.
In July 2012, Reuters reported that Wells Fargo would pay $175 million for a racial discrimination probe, following allegations that the company charged Black and Latino customers higher rates.
