More Mortgage Crisis Fallout In Ohio? Wells Fargo Credit Managers Contend Bank Owes Unpaid Overtime

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- An amended complaint seeking class-action status for current and former employees of Wells Fargo Financial and Wells Fargo Financial Acceptance was filed July 29 in Cincinnati federal court. The lawsuit contends workers in Ohio employed by units of the giant banking company in San Francisco (NYSE:WFC) were denied overtime pay they were eligible for under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The workers held positions as credit managers, senior credit managers, assistant managers and loan processors. According to the lawsuit, the bank didn't maintain accurate time records of hours worked, nor did it issue accurate itemized wage statements. The lead plaintiffs in the case are Stephen Wells, who worked as credit manager in Cincinnati from October 2005 to April 2007, and Kevin Rhinehart, a Miamisburg resident who worked in the Dayton area for a year ending in December 2005.

Their lawsuit has been assigned to Judge Michael Barrett under Case No. 1:08-cv-00107 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. The lawsuit contends Wells Fargo "permitted Plaintiffs and the Collective Class to work more than 40 hours per week without appropriate overtime compensation. Defendants unlawful conduct has been widespread, repeated and consistent. Upon information and belief, Defendants knew that the Plaintiffs and the Collective Class performed work that required overtime pay. Defendant has operated under a scheme to deprive these workers of appropriate overtime compensation by failing to properly compensate them for all hours worked."

The lawsuit does not specify how many Wells Fargo workers in Ohio are included in the proposed class action, but says they can easily be tracked down through the banking company's personnel records.

Two years ago, Wells Fargo paid $12.8 million to settle an overtime case in California. The lawyers representing the bank employees are Randolph H. Freking in Cincinnati, Bryan J. Schwartz in San Francisco and Donald H. Nichols in Minneapolis.