[nfb-talk] Settlement with Wells-Fargo Bank
David Andrews
dandrews at visi.com
Thu Jun 2 09:49:15 UTC 2011
Settlement Agreement between
the United States and Wells Fargo & Company
On May 31, 2011, the Justice Department's Disability Rights Section
and Office of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of
California entered
into a comprehensive settlement agreement with Wells Fargo & Company.
Under the Agreement, Wells Fargo will pay up to $16 million to
compensate individuals
who experienced discrimination in violation of Title III of the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) when trying to call Wells
Fargo, access Wells Fargo's
services, or visit one of Wells Fargo's retail stores.
On the website
http://www.ada.gov/wells_fargo/index.htm
you will find these
links:
How to file a claim for compensation from Wells Fargo Settlement
Agreement between United States and Wells Fargo Fact Sheet about
Agreement Press Release
Wells Fargo owns or operates almost 10,000 retail stores and 12,000
ATMs located throughout the United States. Wells Fargo offers a wide
variety of financial
services, including personal and commercial banking, mortgages,
brokerage, insurance, and investments. The Department initiated its
investigation after
receiving complaints under Title III of the ADA filed by numerous
individuals who are deaf, are hard of hearing, or have speech
disabilities. The complainants
alleged that Wells Fargo would not do business with them over the
phone using a telecommunications relay service.
Instead, the individuals were directed to call a TTY/TDD line that
asked them to leave a message, which went unanswered. The Department
determined that
these actions violated the ADA. The Department also received a
variety of other complaints alleging ADA violations by Wells Fargo,
including the failure
to provide financial documents to people who are blind or have low
vision in alternate formats (e.g., Braille or large print), the
failure to provide appropriate
auxiliary aids and services upon request for in-person meetings
between Wells Fargo staff and individuals who are deaf, and the
failure to remove barriers
to access for individuals with mobility disabilities. The settlement
agreement provides for resolution of all complaints alleging
violation of the ADA
in connection with Wells Fargo's financial services and retail
facilities based on events occurring before May 31, 2011.
The settlement agreement requires Wells Fargo to accept calls made
through a relay service by customers who are deaf, are hard of
hearing, or have speech
disabilities; remove physical barriers to access identified at its
retail stores; provide appropriate auxiliary aids and services,
including qualified
sign language or oral interpreters, computer-assisted real-time
transcription, qualified readers, and documents in alternate formats
(Braille, large print,
audio format, accessible electronic format) to persons with
disabilities when necessary to ensure effective communication
throughout its financial services
and programs; ensure that its ATMs and websites are accessible to
individuals with disabilities; and remedy all other instances of
discrimination - including
architectural barriers and operational issues -- under Title III of
the ADA that are identified during the claims process. In addition,
the agreement requires
Wells Fargo to make
$1 million in charitable donations to non-profit organizations that
will assist veterans with disabilities caused by injuries sustained
while serving in
Iraq or Afghanistan to live independently in the community. Wells
Fargo will also pay a $55,000 civil penalty to the United States Treasury.
More information about the nFB-Talk
mailing list