Richard Eggers, 68, Fired By Wells Fargo For Using Two Cardboard Nickels At Laundromat In 1963 [Video]
Richard Eggers was allegedly fired from a Wells Fargo bank for stealing 10 cents from a Laundromat in 1963 when he was just a teenager. Richard Eggers reportedly used two cardboard nickels at a Laundromat when he was 19-years-old and got caught by the local sheriff. In perhaps a move to teach the teenager a lesson, the sheriff charged Richard Eggers with fraud.
The decades old arrest came back to haunt Eggers when Wells Fargo ran background checks on all employees as a new federal statute dictates. Wells Fargo and other banks have reportedly fired thousands of employees due to criminal conduct found during mandatory background checks, the Daily Mail reports.
The new federal law forbids all insured depository institutions from hiring anyone with a criminal history. While it is a bit baffling that all banks did not already run criminal background checks on potential hires, a little common sense should also be infused into the process. Richard Eggers’ youthful indiscretion now bars him from continuing to earn a paycheck in an industry in which he has experience and no known complaints. Finding new employment at 68 would likely be a difficult enough task even before a recent termination was added to the senior citizen’s resume.
“I figured my record was squeaky clean. It was a stupid stunt, I’ m not proud of it, but I don’t think that it warrants a termination almost a half a century later,” former Wells Fargo employee Richard Eggers told ABC News.
Richard Eggers, a Vietnam veteran, worked at the Wells Fargo bank for seven years before getting fired for using two cardboard nickels in 1963. Wells Fargo representative Angela Kaipust told ABC News the bank does not have the ability to grant exceptions to background check findings. Kaipust also noted that once the bank knows an employee has a criminal record for a breach of trust or dishonesty charge, the individual has to be terminated. Richard Eggers is currently seeking new employment and considering taking Wells Fargo to court over the matter.
