CLBE/020
IBS Center for Management Research
Bank of America: It’s Bank Policy!
This case was written by Debapratim Purkayastha, IBS Center for Management Research. It was compiled from published
sources, and is intended to be used as a basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective
handling of a management situation.
License to use for IBS Bengaluru
Semester IV
Credit Management
2009, IBS Center for Management Research. All rights reserved.
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CLBE/020
Bank of America: It’s Bank Policy!
In 2009, when Steve Valdez (Valdez) went to a Bank of America (BoA) branch in the Tampa area
in Florida to cash a check, he was in for a shock. The bank refused to serve him unless he provided
a thumbprint. And this, despite Valdez having a compelling reason for not complying with the
demand — he was born without hands and wore prosthetic arms.
To prevent frauds, bank policy required anyone who did not have an account with the bank to
furnish their thumbprint if they wanted a check cashed.
Valdez, a 54-year-old Florida resident, who worked at Hillsborough County Public Works
Customer Satisfaction Center, wanted to cash a check given by his wife and so went to a BoA
branch where his wife had an account. When he handed over the check to the bank teller, she
refused to cash it as BoA, like most banks in the US, required a thumbprint to cash a check for
someone who did not have an account with the bank to prevent fraud. “She said, ‘Obviously you
aren’t going to be able to give us a thumbprint,’”1 Valdez recalled.
The teller went to the branch manager to find out what to do. The manager insisted that it was the
bank’s policy not to cash checks without a thumbprint. This was despite Valdez providing them
with two forms of identification and pointing out to them that the check was written to him with
the same address he had on his driver’s license.2,3 When Valdez told them that it would be
impossible for him to comply with this policy, the manager offered him two choices – he could
either bring his wife along to cash the check or open an account in that branch himself.
Valdez said that he asked the BoA employees whether they had heard of the ‘American with
Disabilities Act’4. The manager said that that was why they were accommodating him by offering
him those two choices. Unhappy with the treatment meted out to him, Valdez returned to his office
resolving never to go to that bank again.
Replying to criticism against its action, a spokeswoman for BoA, Nicole Nastacie, said that the
bank had apologized to Valdez. She also said that while the thumbprint was a requirement, the
bank should have made accommodations. “We should have offered alternative requirements if an
individual is not able to give a thumbprint,”5 she said. But Valdez said that even while apologizing
to him, the bank’s representatives were trying to explain that its manager was just following bank
policy.
1
Robbyn Mitchell, “Thumbprint Rule at Tampa Bank of America Stymies Armless Man Trying to Cash
Check,” www.tampabay.com, September 2, 2009.
2
“Tampa Bank’s Thumbprint Rule Irks Man Born with No Arms,” www.gainesville.com, September 2,
2009.
3
Mike Deeson, “Bank Wants Thumbprint from Man with no Hands,” www.wtsp.com, September 2009.
4
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) is a wide-ranging civil rights law that prohibits,
under certain circumstances, discrimination based on disability. In accordance with ADA, businesses
must comply with basic non-discrimination requirements that prohibit exclusion, segregation, and unequal
treatment.
5
Robbyn Mitchell, “Thumbprint Rule at Tampa Bank of America Stymies Armless Man Trying to Cash
Check,” www.tampabay.com, September 2, 2009.
1
Bank of America: It’s Bank Policy!
While some legal experts felt that businesses were under compulsion by state law to alter their
rules or guidelines within reason to accommodate a disabled person, others felt that even if there
was no such law, the bank should have accommodated Valdez. They argued that it was basic
common sense to do so. “Policies can’t be perfect. Human beings have an ethical obligation not to
stick to them when they result in outrageous consequences to others, and there is no
counterbalancing benefit to be gained by doing so, other than not varying from the policy… Any
individual, and any bank, that needs a law to remind them not to insist on a thumbprint from a man
with no thumbs is ethically impaired, and has no common sense. And having no common sense is
a much greater handicap than having no thumbs,”6 an ethics expert noted.
Questions for Discussion:
1. Discuss the ethical issues related to this case. Analyze the roles of each of the people
involved and the bank.
2. “Human beings have an ethical obligation not to stick to [policies] when they result in
outrageous consequences to others, and there is no counterbalancing benefit to be gained
by doing so, other than not varying from the policy.” Discuss.
References and Suggested Readings:
1. “The Bank of America Teller and the Thumbless Customer,”
www.ethicsscoreboard.com, October 12, 2009.
2. “Bank Tells Armless Man: No Thumb, No Cash,” www.cbsnews.com, September 2,
2009.
3. Robbyn Mitchell, “Thumbprint Rule at Tampa Bank of America Stymies Armless
Man Trying to Cash Check,” www.tampabay.com, September 2, 2009.
4. “Tampa Bank’s Thumbprint Rule Irks Man Born with No Arms,”
www.gainesville.com, September 2, 2009.
5. Mike Deeson, “Bank Wants Thumbprint from Man with no Hands,” www.wtsp.com,
September 2009.
6. http://en.wikipedia.org.
Cases on Related Topic:
“Success at What Cost? - A Case Study in Managerial Ethics & Compliance,”
www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/Human%20Resource%20and%20Organization
%20Behavior/HROB106.htm
“The Julie Roehm Saga at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.,”
www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/.../HROB108.htm
“HR Problems at Jet Airways: Coping with Turbulent Times in the ...,”
www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/.../HROB117.htm
6
“The Bank of America Teller and the Thumbless Customer,” www.ethicsscoreboard.com, October 12,
2009.
2
