Bank of America employees have been criticized for incompetence in the past, but the bank's Santa Maria, Calif., vice president of Small Business, Lance Easley, has taken it to a whole new level thanks to his performance at his part-time job as an NFL replacement official.
In what some say is the worst call in the history of the league, Easley declared a contested endzone pass a touchdown, resulting in a Monday night victory for the Seattle Seahawks over the Green Bay Packers. Easley's botched call has incensed NFL players and fans across the country and supported charges of incompetence against the NFL's replacement officials.
Others hired to replace the league’s officials as the regular referees struggle to resolve a contract dispute have come from the Lingerie Football League, the real estate industry and even the New Orleans Saints' fan club.
Monday’s game was among Easley's first reffing at a professional level; he previously had not officiated anything above Junior College games, according to the Santa-Maria Times. (He did attend Stars and Stripes Academy for Football Officials, a 3-day training academy that teaches college football officiating.)
It's likely Easley makes a much better banker than a referee. But like the NFL, Bank of America has been known to hire officials with little experience to handle some of its most important calls.
During the height of the housing boom, Bank of America stocked its mortgage servicing departments with workers with little previous banking experience. Some included former hair stylists and shelf-stockers at Walmart. According to ThinkProgress, one such employee who was tasked with approving foreclosures later admitted, “I had no idea what I was signing."
Easley, it seems, had no idea what he was calling.
Related
Before You Go
