Wells Fargo Settles- Maternity Leave Discrimination Allegations

The largest mortgage provider in the United States is Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.

Wells Fargo Home Mortgage has agreed to settle these allegations for $5 Million.

The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development charged the allegations against Wells Fargo stating that Wells Fargo discriminated against new mothers who were going on maternity leave.

The allegations state that the bank refused approving loans to new mothers.

It is alleged that the bank also forced new mothers to "sacrifice their maternity leave and return to work prior to the closing of their loans". This is according to HUD.

HUD represented about 6 families from around the country including Arizona, California, Nevada, Nebraska and Texas.

HUD secretary Julian Castro said that in many of the cases it was not the family's income or credit that stalled the loans but it was simply the words, "Maternity Leave" on the application.

Wells Fargo has denied the charges but agreed to settle the case to save the expense of a lengthy and drawn out legal dispute.

Wells Fargo also says that HUD is bringing up 5 loan applications during a time in which they processed over 3 million applications from female customers.

Wells Fargo stands by their statement that they have not discriminated against any new mother nor have they forced any new mother back to work.

HUD has open investigations on around 15 maternity leave discrimination complaints in 2014 and has investigated over 170 of these cases since 2010.

Wells Fargo is giving each of the 6 families $165,000. Wells Fargo is creating a fund of $3.5 million to be there in case anyone else says they were discriminated against for maternity leave.

They also agreed to change their underwriting guidelines for evaluating mortgage loan applications for those who are on maternity leave.

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