The class action suit claimed Wells Fargo held interviews with diverse candidates with no intent of hiring them.
After a three-year battle, Wells Fargo has settled for $85 million in a lawsuit accusing it of holding fake interviews to meet a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring quota, The Charlotte Observer reports.
However, once President Donald Trump signed an executive order opposing DEI efforts, the bank dialed back, along with hundreds of other leading corporations. With a large presence in Charlotte, Wells Fargo was among the seven of the nine largest public companies in the Queen City to pause any mention of diversity and equity in the same SEC reports.
As a result, the company lost $17 billion in market value.
The bank has been busy settling lawsuits. According to HR Dive, Wells Fargo also settled a related suit that accused bank executives of breaching their fiduciary duties —by definition, a legal and ethical obligation to act in the best interest of another party —over the company’s misleading statements regarding its diverse hiring practices.
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Source: Black Enterprise
