Community Corner

How 'Stealing' a Dime 49 Years Ago Cost an Iowa Man His Job

Wells Fargo Home Mortgage tells a 68-year-old employee that his crime -- committed in 1963 -- violates their employment standards.

Of all the people deserving to be fired for commiting a crime, Richard Eggers is likely on only one list: His employer's, .

Eggers, a 68-year-old Vietnam veteran and not much of a criminal, has been fired from his $29,795-a-year job as a customer service representative for the company based in West Des Moines.

And what diabolical scheme did he cook up to get him canned?

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He put a cardboard cutout of a dime in a washing machine in Carlisle, Iowa -- back in 1963.

“It was a stupid stunt and I’m not real proud of it, but to fire somebody for something like this after seven good years of employment is a dirty trick when you come right down to it,” Eggers, of Des Moines, told The Des Moines Register. “And they’re doing this kind of thing all across the country.”

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According to The Register, big banks have been firing low-level employees like Eggers since the issuance of new federal banking employment guidelines in May 2011 and new mortgage employment guidelines in February.

The tougher standards are meant to weed out executives and mid-level bank employees guilty of transactional crimes, like identity fraud or mortgage fraud, but they are being applied across-the-board thanks to $1-million-a day fines for noncompliance, the paper reported.

The regulatory rules forbid the employment of anyone convicted of a crime involving dishonesty, breach of trust or money laundering.

On the same day that Eggers was fired, Wells Fargo & Co., the largest U.S. bank by market capitalization, paid $175 million to the U.S. Justice Department to settle allegations it had targeted black and Hispanic homeowners for sub-prime loans, the Register reported.

Wells Fargo confirmed Eggers’ termination.

“We are operating in an environment where we’re facing new regulations and a heightened level of scrutiny on all our activities,” Wells Fargo spokeswoman Angela Kaipust told the newspaper. “The expectations that have been placed on us and all financial institutions have never been higher.”

Charlene Eggers, Richard’s wife of 43 years,  said the firing hurt his pride.

“His only crime was being a teenager and being stupid,” she said. “If that’s a crime we’re all in a lot of trouble.”

Eggers is old enough to retire, but wants to keep working. If not for Wells Fargo, then for someone else.

“I just want my job back,” Eggers told the newspaper. “I’m having to sign up for Social Security because of this, but I didn’t want to. I had hoped to work four more years. ... I’d prefer to stay busy.”


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