Company: WFC-PC
Filing Date: 2025-03-19
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0000072971-25-000090
Chunk: 90

Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY/MN
Filing Date: 2025-03-19
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 90
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This report should not include the names of accusers or identifying details of their settlements without their consent and should be prepared at a reasonable cost and omit any information that is proprietary, privileged, or violative of contractual obligations

#### Supporting Statement
Persistent controversies have surrounded Wells Fargo’s workforce management, so it is no surprise that at last year’s shareholder meeting a proposal with the same resolved clause received substantial support. Wells Fargo’s hiring practices came under scrutiny when it was reported that the Company conducted interviews of diverse candidates for positions that had already been filled, and subsequently retaliated against employees that complained about the sham interviews.

The Company faces a putative securities class action alleging investors were misled over its efforts to implement its “Diverse Search Requirement”. The suit claims, that while promoting its diverse hiring practices to its investors, the Company was actually conducting sham interviews of individuals it had no intention of hiring. There has also been a steady stream of discrimination and retaliation suits filed by employees.

The Company in its 2024 Proxy Statement, opposed this proposal arguing that its racial equity assessment is responsive to the proposal falls flat. The assessment does not address broad issues of discrimination or the effectiveness of its programs, let alone disclose this information to shareholders.

This public report would assist shareholders in assessing whether the Company is improving its workforce management. Civil rights violations within the workplace can result in substantial costs to companies, including legal costs, fines and penalties, costs related to absenteeism, and reduced productivity. A company’s failure to properly manage its workforce can have significant ramifications, making it more difficult to retain and recruit employees, and jeopardize relationships with customers and other partners.

#### 2025 Proxy Statement97

#### Shareholder Proposals
Our Statement in Opposition

Annual Report on Prevention of Workplace Harassment and Discrimination

Our Board recommends a vote AGAINST this proposal, identified as Item 4 on the proxy card.

• Our Board has already taken action to address shareholders’ feedback on this topic. At the 2024 annual shareholder meeting, substantially the same shareholder proposal did not receive majority support, with a significant decline in support of more than 24 percentage points year-over-year from 2023, when the proposal received majority support. After the 2023 annual shareholder meeting, we responded to shareholder feedback by providing additional disclosure about Board oversight and our framework to prevent and address harassment and discrimination. We view the subsequent 2024 voting outcome, where the proposal did not pass and support declined from 52.3% in 2023 to 28.2% in