The Most Stupid Banker Firing Ever

ABC News reports that in 1963 a 19-year-old Richard Eggers committed a crime, putting a fake dime into a laundry machine in Carlisle, Iowa. Eggers was spotted by the local sheriff and was convicted of operating a coin-changing machine by false means. He was sentenced to 15 days in jail, of which he served two. He was released early to return to college, and fined $50. Case closed.

Well, not so much. Now, 49 years later, Eggers’ past offense is coming back to haunt him.

Eggers worked as a customer service representative at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage in Des Moines until he was fired in July. The reason given for his dismissal: the long-ago incident with the dime.

The Huffington Post reports that the bank fired Eggers from his job of seven years as a customer service representative after the company found out about a decades-old run-in with the law, the Des Moines Register reports.

'It was a stupid stunt and I’m not real proud of it, but to fire somebody for something like this after seven good years of employment is a dirty trick when you come right down to it', Eggers told the Register. 'And they’re doing this kind of thing all across the country'.

A bank spokesperson said: 'We don't have discretion to grant exceptions in situations like this. Once we find out someone has a criminal history of dishonesty or breach of trust we can no longer employ them'.

The Des Moines Register is now reporting that Eggers, 68, has filed the complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Iowa Civil Rights Commission, according to attorney Leonard Bates, who is representing him for the Newkirk Law Firm.