U.S. Bank’s CEO reversed his company’s position on two fired Oregon employees Saturday night, pledging, “I will fix this.”

The bank fired Portland customer service representative Emily James and also fired her supervisor, Abigail Gilbert, after James came to the rescue of a client whose paycheck had been placed on hold by the bank.

U.S. Bank steadfastly defended the firing for weeks after The Oregonian/OregonLive first reported on the situation. The situation triggered outrage from across the country and after a fresh, stinging critique Saturday in The New York Times, the bank reversed course.

“Our recent employment decision in Oregon does not reflect who we are as a company. It is important to acknowledge our mistakes and when we fall short of our own high expectations,” CEO Andy Cecere wrote in a statement to The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Cecere he takes “full responsibility" for the situation and ordered a review of U.S. Bank policies.

“This weekend, after personally speaking with the employees involved I have a better understanding of their motivations and don’t think we got this one quite right,” Cecere wrote. “I am committed to working with these employees and others on the team to understand how we can do better.”

As The Oregonian/OregonLive reported in January, James drove from her office to a nearby gas station on Christmas Eve to give a U.S. Bank customer $20 so he could buy gas to get home. The customer’s paycheck was on hold at the bank.

The bank responded on New Year’s Eve by firing James and her supervisor, telling James the decision to meet the customer in person could have jeopardized her safety. Other employers expressed interest in hiring James as her firing became national news. U.S. Bank, though, stuck by its decision.

The company initially refused to discuss the matter with The Oregonian/OregonLive, saying it did not comment on personnel matters. It later blamed James, saying the company fired her “because rather than using the proper processes and procedures to help the customer, she chose to pursue a course of action that placed herself and the bank at risk.”

In a statement to The New York Times this week, the bank stood by its decision to fire James.

“She broke the rules, putting herself and the bank at unnecessary risk,” the bank told columnist Nicholas Kristof.

Soon after Kristof’s national column appeared Saturday, however, Cecere changed course.

“This is not who we are,” Cecere told Kristof. The columnist wrote on Twitter that Cecere told him companies sometimes make mistakes.

I have an update for my column on US Bank firing two employees for tryingt to help a stranded customer on Christmas Eve: https://t.co/dWc9eZAVfA. Andrew Cecere, the bank CEO, just called me and said, "I will fix this." He also telephoned Emily James. I'm hopeful. — Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) February 2, 2020

The Saturday night statement from Cecere did not explain just what triggered the change in thinking after more than a month. James confirmed Saturday that Cecere had called her but declined to discuss the details of their conversation until they have talked further.

In his original column Saturday, Kristof was unsparing in his critique of Cecere and U.S. Bank. He wrote that the bank’s conduct illustrates how “some companies have lost their souls” and said Cecere hadn’t returned his calls.

Instead, Kristof wrote, a bank spokesman said the company had investigated James’ case and found evidence James had misled her manager. Though the company had previously said it couldn’t discuss personnel matters, the bank told Kristof that James had faced disciplinary “issues” before the episode on Christmas Eve.

“I found the bank’s ‘investigation’ a whitewash,” Kristof wrote, “and its explanations to be incoherent, meanspirited and contradicted by a series of internal bank messages that I reviewed.”

-- Samantha Swindler; sswindler@oregonian.com; @editorswindler

-- Mike Rogoway | mrogoway@oregonian.com | twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699

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