Many of the workers speaking out were fired from the bank, most before they took their complaints public. One worker has said her firing was related to her interest in the union. One worker is still employed at BofA.
BofA's Pace said that all of the bank's activities were not only legal but also useful to consumers, particularly those who have recently arrived in the U.S.
"We believe a checking account is the cornerstone to establishing financial security in this country," Pace said in an e-mail. "We offer innovative financial services to meet the needs of all of our customers, including Hispanic customers."
Pace also said the bank had taken steps to help customers facing "financial challenges." For example, she said, the bank waives certain monthly fees for customers who have lost their jobs and has reduced penalty fees for customers who overdraw their accounts by less than $5.
Although BofA denies wrongdoing, it recently paid $35 million to settle a class-action suit in California that alleged it deliberately ranked customer debits by order of size rather than by the time of day they occurred in order to maximize overdraft charges.
Pace said that the settlement does not include any acknowledgment of wrongdoing or even of the practices alleged in the suit, and that the bank paid the $35 million to avoid excessive legal bills.
Consumer advocates see it differently.
"Bank of America has moved to the top of the charts for fees being charged to consumers by big banks," said Jean Ann Fox, director of financial services for the Consumer Federation of America.
Ornelas and three other former BofA tellers, all Latinas, said they and co-workers were repeatedly instructed to seek potential new Spanish-speaking customers outside the bank. Some were instructed to go to embassies where recent emigres often wait in line for visa and passport services.
Other tellers were asked to go to neighborhood stores, clinics and child welfare centers, and several were asked to recruit customers at a religiously oriented Mother's Day celebration, they said.
"We were told to push them to sign up for multiple checking accounts, which they didn't need," said Ambar Sandoval, a former teller at a BofA branch in Central Los Angeles who said she repeatedly resisted pressure to recruit customers at a center for single mothers in Los Angeles.
