A Milwaukee woman has been fired for a crime that she committed 40 years ago. Yolanda Quesada was fired by Wells Fargo recently after a background check revealed that she stole in 1972. Quesada has admitted to the crime but has also said that shoplifting right out of high school should not have a bearing on her job status.
“[I’m] very good at what I do for Wells Fargo,” Quesada said. Quesada received a background check via mail from the FBI and was fired shortly thereafter. A spokesperson for Wells Fargo said that the company began running background checks on all of its current mortgage employees in 2011 “due to legal requirements and changes in the regulatory environment.”
“Because Wells Fargo is an insured depository institution, we are bound by federal law that generally prohibits us from hiring or continuing the employment of any person who we know has a criminal record involving dishonesty or breach of trust,” Wells Fargo spokesman Jim Hines said.
According to a report released from the National Institute of Justice, banks might be sensitive to hiring employees who had property crimes on their records. The report claims that most companies set their own statute of limitations, which typically ranges between five and 10 years from the time of the crime.
