Wells Fargo auditor sues over revoked remote-work accommodation for MS

For four straight years, the filing states, Wells Fargo approved her full-time remote work and intermittent leave without question.

That changed in June 2024. Lane submitted her annual renewal with a physician’s certification that full-time remote work was “medically necessary” through July 2025. According to the complaint, the bank’s accommodations team sat on the request for roughly two months. After Lane escalated, her assigned representative told her by phone the renewal would go through in full, pending sign-off from her direct supervisor, Senior Audit Manager Dennis Aquino.

That sign-off never came. Instead, the filing says, the bank emailed Lane a “gradual return-to-work schedule” – full remote through October, one day in the office in November, two in December, and three days a week starting January 2025. The intermittent leave piece of her request, the complaint alleges, was not addressed at all. When Lane asked what had changed, her representative told her, according to the filing, that Aquino was “not approving full-time accommodation.”

Lane alleges Wells Fargo never engaged in the interactive process the ADA requires. No individualized assessment. No dialogue with her. No follow-up with her doctor. The complaint also alleges, on information and belief, that no undue hardship analysis was conducted – despite the bank having approved the same arrangement for four straight years.

The retaliation claims sharpen the picture. Lane alleges Aquino gave her a “Needs Improvement” rating for 2023 based on a single audit, disregarding positive feedback from every other supervisor who worked with her that year. According to the complaint, key sections of his evaluation were copied nearly word for word from her prior supervisor’s review and from another auditor’s engagement feedback.