The Portland woman who 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, California, next month as a training supervisor.

“It was exactly what I wanted,” James said. “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/OregonLive after James’ story ran, wanting to reach her.

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.

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.

Community First Credit Union flew James to Sonoma County, California, to interview, and James said the not-for-profit financial cooperative felt like a good fit.

“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 – in California’s wine country – for her new position, along with her beloved dogs, HarleyQuinn and Domino.

“I did not get to go wine tasting, but it’s on my to-do list,” James said.

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

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