Disabled Wells Fargo worker says he was fired after having to work from home

A Wells Fargo boss must answer an attorney’s questions about allegations that the bank terminated its customer because of disability and age discrimination, a federal judge has ruled.

The San Francisco-based financial giant with a large presence in Charlotte sought to disqualify Christopher Billesdon’s attorney, L. Michelle Gessner, because she had previously represented the boss in a separate matter with Wells Fargo. The request was rejected Tuesday by a North Carolina federal judge, Law360 reported.

Billesdon’s case against Wells Fargo began in March 2023, when he sued his former employer in the U.S. District Court for Western North Carolina. The complaint said Wells Fargo violated the American with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967.

Billesdon, 52, claims John Templeton fired him because he wanted to work from home when the bank began letting employees return to the office following the COVID pandemic. Billesdon suffered from paralysis of the colon and bladder, which had dramatically affected the working conditions he needed, he argued.

In allowing Gessner to question Templeton, U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan C. Rodriguez said the bank had failed to prove that was the attorney “The previous account has a significant connection to the current controversy.”

A request to stay at home

The lawsuit alleges that Billesdon was fired after he wanted to work from home because he needed medical attention for his paralyzed colon and bladder and the associated side effects of taking medication. But Wells Fargo told Billesdon he was being terminated because of “cost cutting,” the lawsuit says. He was informed of this on February 24, 2022.

His disability began in 1990 after he was involved in an accident in which he broke his spine, the lawsuit says.

He was employed by Wells Fargo for approximately 25 years in various positions in offices in the Los Angeles and Charlotte areas. The lawsuit alleges that his teams generated tens of millions of dollars in revenue for the bank.

Billesdon moved from Los Angeles to Charlotte in August 2020 during the pandemic and retained his position as Head of West Coast Asset Backed Finance Sales in the Markets Division of Wells Fargo Securities’ Corporate & Investment Bank.

He and all the workers were working from home at the time. In 2021, as talk of a return to the office increased, Billesdon requested an accommodation in August 2021. This was rejected in December 2021 and he was terminated in February 2022, weeks before a mandatory return to the office for all employees, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit alleges that the Charlotte office did not have the proper working conditions for Billesdon because the restrooms were on the opposite side of the building where his groups were located.

In August 2021, he submitted a written request with the help of an ADA attorney. After Wells Fargo confirmed the application a few months later, Billesdon said its executives had a very different attitude toward it.

“For example, they began to avoid and stop contact with Mr. Billesdon, requiring him to make multiple attempts to persuade them to respond to him,” the lawsuit says.

He claims Wells Fargo terminated him so other employees couldn’t use him as an excuse to also work from home.

The law firm of Fisher Phillips represents Wells Fargo. The bank is convinced that the claims in the lawsuit are without merit, said a spokesman on behalf of the bank.

“Wells Fargo provides equal employment opportunities to all employees, regardless of disability, age or other legally protected status,” the bank said in a statement to The Charlotte Observer. “We value and promote diversity, equity and inclusion in all aspects of our business and at all levels.”

A jury trial is required in the case.