Warren Says DOL Website for Wells Fargo Removed

January 27, 2017 at 06:24 AM

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Senator Elizabeth Warren has asked the Department of Labor for an update on its investigation into Wells Fargo & Co.'s sales practices after she was unable to access a website the agency set up to track complaints from the bank's employees.

"I am concerned that the Department of Labor has removed the website where Wells Fargo's employees who were victims of the company's fraudulent actions could file labor complaints or report illegal activity," Warren wrote in a letter Thursday to Edward Hugler, acting Labor secretary.

Warren said she received a "page not found" error this week when she tried to access the website, which was working before President Donald Trump took office. She asked for more information about the status of the agency's review of the company's sales practices.

Michael Trupo, a spokesman for the Labor Department, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

In September, the Labor Department said it started an investigation into Wells Fargo after the San Francisco-based lender was caught creating legions of phony accounts for customers without their knowledge.

Warren and a group of Democratic lawmakers had asked the agency to look into whether the company violated wage and overtime rules while pushing branch workers to meet aggressive sales quotas.

Hugler was named acting secretary after the exit of Tom Perez, the last chief of the agency under President Barack Obama. Trump's pick to lead the agency, Andrew Puzder, chief executive officer of CKE Restaurants Inc., has not yet been confirmed by the Senate.

The bank has apologized for breaking customers' trust, pledged to make them whole and said it's ending sales incentives that have been blamed for the abuses.

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