Thread regarding Wells Fargo & Co. layoffs

There are team members that continually apply for work accommodations. They don't get any proof from their doctor. When they are declined an accommodation due to no doctors letter, they apply again, and again. If you're in the process of an accommodation or medical leave, no corrective action can be brought against you. They keep themselves in a constant state of protection, while e stone else picks up their work. Why can't hr do something about these people? Clearly they have a pattern going.

@ @1pny+16zAUEay I am curious in those 10 years how many of those leeches as you described then received high performance ratings (4 or 5)? It seems like everyone got them in the good old days.

Oh yeah, in my ten years at Wells in management I’ve had multiple cases of people who just have leave over and over again for vague mental health reasons like stress. Get a doctors note and you get to keep your job and get paid at the same time for doing nothing for years. That’s why we should get rid of time off accommodations when FMLA isn’t earned yet, just builds a roster at the lower levels of leeches. They’ll probably get to keep their jobs though because of the “risk” of firing them while you all lose your jobs

@1hgo+16zAUEay, I so agree:

"The scammers play in a different world than we do. They have perfected taking advantage of giant firms like Wells Fargo making HR look like fools."

Thread from a month ago regarding FMLA, Short Term Disability and my story/comments after my stroke.

https://www.thelayoff.com/t/1616P5T2

Thank you to those with the positive posts. I’m disappointed and disturbed to hear of the Medical Leave abusers.

The firefighter gal? Report her to HR. Call the Whistle Blower line or HR/ER and report her for not scheduling or reporting her PTO Hours. Unless she is seeking treatment and doing Chemotherapy or Radiation weekly, it sounds like the manager is turning a blind eye to her PTO Abuse. Willful Blindness.

On the other hand, about 15 years ago, pre-Wells Fargo, as a team we were able to donate our PTO to a lady who gave birth and her baby was in the NICU for 3 months. He was born with several disabilities. She was discharged from the hospital but her son was not. She would go daily to the hospital after work to see him in the NICU since the hospital was 3 miles away. We chipped in as a team to pay for her and her husband to stay at a hotel near the hospital so they could see their son and she could breast feed and learn to care for him. They lived 30 miles from the hospital, and the commute was brutal. We worked with his manager at BofA and they too donated their PTO hours and those team members chipped in to pay for the hotel stay as well.

That’s how we came together and supported the people we care about on our team. That lady was forever grateful and one of the hardest workers I ever met. That’s the difference between those who truly need the time off for Medical Leave and the Abusers.

I have a business partner that went on a “stress leave” a couple times over the last year the most recent a 3 week leave until the end of August. She is responsible for a program that is supposed to implement compliance with a regulation that went into effect on 2001. That’s right: 19 years ago (!!!) and they are not done yet. Over the years she also accumulated a number of HR/Ethics hotline complains all very much archived without any action being taken. I am horrified when I hear that someone can still be gainfully employed after such fiasco performance for years and years.

We have a girl that we call “the firefighter.” 2 days on, 3 days off.

To Stroke Survivor and Thriving. I’m sorry to hear you’ve gone through that. I’m @cbj: HR is part of the problem.

I’ve been out twice myself, nothing serious: joint replacement etc and my experience was exactly like yours with my drs and Liberty Mutual. And I also know people with severe ongoing health problems who don’t fit within the parameters set by the firm who don’t get the time off they desperately need.

The scammers play in a different world than we do. They have perfected taking advantage of giant firms like Wells Fargo making HR look like fools. My story of the gal in our department was probably 5-7 years ago. But I have friends at other large firms organizations such as AT&T, The Post Office and Boeing who report the same types of people. They are experienced at gaming the system and go from firm to firm. I don’t know how they do it. A crooked doctor, good at faking symptoms, vague illnesses, not really sure.

The woman in our department didn’t take one long time period off but she had something new and vague every 6 months and maxed out time-off and LOA every time. Sometimes even extending it in to unpaid time and then keeping us guessing on when she was coming back. She always came back right before they were preparing to lower the hammer. I can’t remember it all: stomach problems, sick kid, allergies, depression, headaches, untold #s of out- of -town relatives passing and taking the maximum bereavement. HR completely protected her. I remember one of our young sweet girls asking her “How many grandparents do you have?” lol Maybe she truly had terrible luck, but it was more that she was “dumb like a fox”.

Our manager begged HR to give him the OK to let her go for several years. We were short-handed and the good employees were all getting short-changed covering for her. We couldn’t get the ok to hire someone else either. We were completely at her mercy. One time, finally, she just didn’t come back on the required day and wouldn’t answer the phone. So she was officially terminated. We assumed she took another job. People like her make it difficult for the people who play by the rules, as you said.

Best wishes.

Just my 2 cents worth...I agree with those who are saying it's not that easy to get away with disability fraud at work. The insurance company doesn't let people stay out of work indefinitely over a sore thumb. And your doctor has no reason to risk his reputation to help you defraud the bank. I will say I've known people who were out on "stress leave", but I don't know the true circumstances of their problems so I can't comment.

@Stroke Survivor and Thriving, I understand what you are saying, because I have been out on leave before for a real medical issue. I have always wondered how these people get away with the "stress" leave, but they do somehow. It happens. None of them have cancer or any other medical condition that would warrant a true medical leave.

No doctor will sign off on Medical Leave and risk their license to practice. Especially not for “stress” or a thumb with problems. Audits are conducted by hospitals and practitioners to avoid having a questionable diagnosis or doctor who writes out a number of patients.

The stack of forms required by HR and Liberty Mutual/Lincoln Financial Group make it nearly impossible for fraud to be committed. In addition a separate Medical Review and Exam can and will be conducted by LM/LFG by an independent doctor to verify extended medical leave with pay.

Before jumping to conclusions, there may be a diagnosis that this team member doesn’t want to disclose and is seeking treatment for. Such as HIV/AIDS, Cancer or MS.

I can tell you from first hand experience after having a stroke that it was not an easy task to coordinate any type of fraud. I was also reviewed by LM/LFG as well as a Social Security Disability independent doctor/specialist year over year to ensure that my condition was not reversible or will improve. It took 3 years to be approved for SSDI, and that was after hiring a Disability Attorney. I had to pay back every single cent of Long Term Disability pair by LM/LFG.

I lost the use of my arm, had to go to speech therapy, physical therapy and occupational therapy. I gave it all I could. I didn’t expect to wake up one morning and be disabled. In fact, the demands of a 70+ hour week and stress at Wells Fargo caused it. I was 98 pounds when I was taken to the ER.

If you suspect fraud, report it. It takes benefits away from people like me that truly need it to survive financially and medically.

Sincerely,
Stroke Survivor and Thriving

Medical leave fraud, customer account fraud, forced insurance fraud, work from home fraud, hmmmmmm.... looks like a pattern.

Man what a monster. Like how SPECIFICALLY did she do it? Haha just hypothetically in case I was ever trapped in a dead end stressful job waiting to be laid off at a monstrous poorly run risk org haha

HR is part of the problem. We had someone like that in our department as well. HR made it nearly impossible to fire her for years. She knew exactly how many days to work in order to be able to go back on LOA. HR’s primary goal is not to do what’s right or fair or honorable, it is always to protect the firm from potential lawsuits.

@wva+16zAUEay Are you the one abusing the leave? It sounds like you know what they are doing. The woman with the "problem" thumb is way over 65 and seems to just be riding it out to get as much money as possible out of WF while doing nothing. I think there is a point where she won't be able to continue her scam.

That is this group's MO. They want money for nothing. And for some reason, they think WF owes them something. I am hoping HR reads these posts.

This type of fraudulent activity is the prime example of why Wells Fargo affair with corruption and dishonesty is not only a “top management” problem. It’s rather very systemic of the old crew to take advantage of processes and people for their own personal gain.

Though expecting this action as a result of where the bank has found itself; it is sad that many continue to pay for the mismanagement and prior greed . I hope they include lots of trimming from the top as well. They should also look to simplify a lot of their processes currently in place. They are burdensome as hell anyway!

Do it when you're about to retire and don't give a sh–

The only legally protected leave is under FMLA, and it has frequency and duration restrictions.

These people can be fired, it’s their management who is not taking action to just do that. ADA requires providing accommodations for disability, not indefinite employer paid leave. HR should be looking at this and cleaning up.

Probably because of the D&I consideration and the disability act. This is how the US gets f—ed up. Not just Wells Fargo. When the good wills of the protections for minorities get abused, the sh– like this just happens. The Americans are totally spoiled. That's the reason why even Trump can't make us great again.