PORTLAND, Ore.—A Portland woman whose story went viral nationally after she was fired from her job with U.S. Bank after a Christmas Eve act of kindness has been hired by a credit union that created a job especially for her.
Emily James will be joining Community First Credit Union in Santa Rosa, Calif. next month as a training supervisor.
“It was exactly what I wanted,” James told The Oregonian. “I want to be training, mentoring and helping others. I’ll be training new hires as well as doing follow-up training.”
The head of human resources for Community First Credit Union was among the dozens of hiring managers who reached out to The Oregonian after James’ story previously ran, wanting to reach her, the publication stated.
James, who worked as a senior banker at a U.S. Bank call center in Portland, was fired on Dec. 31 for what she was told was an “unauthorized interaction with a customer.” Unable to get a hold that U.S. Bank had placed on a customer’s paycheck released on Christmas Eve, James received permission from her supervisor to drive to the gas station where the customer was stranded and give him $20 in cash. Both James and her supervisor, Abigail Gilbert, were fired over the incident.
‘Triggered Outrage’
“The story triggered outrage from across the country for weeks. But it wasn’t until New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote about the firings that U.S. Bank CEO Andy Cecere called both James and Gilbert, offering them their jobs back. Gilbert accepted, but James did not want to return to her former employer, The Oregonian explained.
The $546-million Community First Credit Union flew James to its offices in Santa Rosa to interview, and James said the not-for-profit financial cooperative felt like a good fit, The Oregonian said.
“We read about Emily getting fired for an act of kindness and humanity," said David Williams, chief marketing and human resource officer for Community First Credit Union, in a press release. "At the same time, we had an employee do a similar act of kindness. We gave her an award for it. Helpfulness is in our DNA, and we are convinced Emily has that same DNA.”
James will be moving to Santa Rosa.