Hundreds denied early retirement at Verizon telecommunications

[IndianaGreen]

US: Hundreds denied early retirement at Verizon telecommunications
By Samuel Davidson
31 December 2003

Hundreds of employees at telecommunications giant Verizon were denied an early retirement package last month and forced at the last minute to decide whether to retire without the extra incentive or continue working.

The workers only found out that they were denied the package less than a day before most were set to leave the company. They had to scramble to cancel their retirement plans in order to remain on the company’s payroll.

George Rifendifer, a cable splicer with 32½ years who works out of the construction and repair garage in Indiana, Pennsylvania, a small city located about 60 miles east of Pittsburgh, said, “We were led to believe that everyone would get the package, they kept telling us that if you want to go, put in for the package.”

Three cable splicers and two members of the line crew had accepted the offer. “Our supervisors took the whole garage out to lunch the day before we were to leave,” Rifendifer said. “One of the supervisor’s pager went off during the meal. He went to call and when he came back he said that three of us couldn’t take the offer.”

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/dec2003/veri-d31.shtml

[Dover]

1. This is one of the most F'ed up companies in operation.

I have heard this from two neighbors who work for them....as well as following the news stories. They are lucky their workers don't sabotage the company or otherwise act out against them. They sure seem to be asking for it.

[cosmicdot]

2. I see the Board has a lot of old GTE Board members

they sure take care of the upper schmucks ... Chuck Lee got to retire, although stayed on as a "consultant" at $250,000/month + expenses ...


these good ol'boys have been padding their pockets for years ... its obscene the amounts of money these people are getting ... is it a wonder things economically-politically-socially are tad out of balance ...




Director Compensation. Non-employee Directors receive both cash and stock compensation. Verizon’s non-employee Directors receive an annual retainer of $60,000, and each Committee chairperson receives an additional $5,000 annual retainer. In addition, the Directors have the choice of receiving an annual stock option grant valued at $130,000 or a grant of options and share equivalents, each valued at half of that amount. Directors only receive a meeting fee of $1,000 if a Board or committee meeting occurs on a day other than the day before or the day of the regularly scheduled Board meeting.


Chuck Lee, formerly of GTE, apparently retired in 2002... it must be costing Verizon a pretty penny just to compenstate him

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/732712/000089322003000286/w82973def14a.htm

"Sensitive to the current market conditions, Mr. Seidenberg recommended to the Committee that he forego a salary increase in 2003" - yeah, right ...


For 2002, the column “All Other Compensation” includes: Company contributions to qualified plans for Messrs. Lee, Seidenberg, Babbio, Strigl, Masin, and Barr and Ms. Toben in the amounts of: $12,257; $10,000; $10,000; $15,400; $14,603; $16,142; and $9,641, respectively; contributions by the Company and its related companies to the non-qualified Income Deferral Plan Accounts of Messrs. Lee, Seidenberg, Babbio, Strigl, Masin, and Barr and Ms. Toben in the amounts of: $1,783,722; $1,382,875; $1,026,309; $572,207; $773,368; $477,366; and $458,050, respectively; the value of premiums paid by the Company for executive life insurance policies for Messrs. Seidenberg, Babbio, Strigl, and Barr and Ms. Toben in the amounts of $115,221; $138,570; $116,972; $29,568; and $50,053, respectively.

For 2002 the column “Other Annual Compensation” includes: incremental costs for personal use of Company aircraft by Messrs. Seidenberg, Strigl, and Masin in the amounts of: $90,590; $83,493; and $77,644, respectively; imputed income for the personal use of Company apartment and related tax reimbursements for Mr. Babbio of $251,850 and $224,397, respectively; imputed income of $16,540 for financial planning services provided to Mr. Barr; flexible spending allowances for Mr. Barr and Ms. Toben in the amounts of: $31,000 and $26,000, respectively. The amount shown for Mr. Lee includes imputed interest of $36,959 and tax reimbursements of $33,305 related to aggregate home equity bridge loans of $2.5 million provided by the Company in connection with the relocation from Texas to Connecticut following the merger. Under the terms of the Company’s relocation program, which applies to all management employees, home equity bridge loans are interest-free. Mr. Lee repaid the balance of the loans in 2002, in the net amount of $2,094,700, after offsets for reimbursement for other relocation-related transactions.

Mr. Lee’s 2002 LTIP payout included the payment of 40% of his special long-term incentive award. Mr. Lee’s award was $5,209,372, including earnings based on investment elections. Mr. Seidenberg’s 2002 LTIP payout included the payment of 20% of his special long-term incentive award. Mr. Seidenberg’s award was $2,289,680, including earnings based on investment elections. In addition, Messrs. Lee, Masin, and Barr, as former GTE executives, received payments for the 2000 to 2002 award cycle, under the GTE Long-Term Incentive Plan, of $1,901,660; $1,100,930; and $646,000, respectively.

The following table shows the aggregate portion of each participating named executive officer’s account attributable to the Company’s contributions as of December 31, 2002. In 2002, Messrs. Lee, Masin, Barr, and all other former GTE executives, had their Verizon Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan benefit converted to a present value and transferred to the Verizon Income Deferral Plan. As a result, Messrs. Lee, Masin and Barr are no longer entitled to receive a benefit under the Verizon Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan and instead began participating in the Verizon Income Deferral Plan along with all other Verizon executives effective January 1, 2002. Generally, the Verizon Income Deferral Plan provides a benefit at retirement comparable to the benefit provided under the Verizon Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan.


Executive Aggregate Account Balance


Mr. Lee $ 27,308,803 *
Mr. Seidenberg $ 10,762,561
Mr. Babbio $ 9,677,371
Mr. Strigl $ 2,909,493
Mr. Masin $ 11,556,174 *
Mr. Barr $ 5,612,787 *
Ms. Toben $ 1,656,396


*Includes $23,411,561; $9,329,714; and $4,542,326 for Messrs. Lee, Masin and Barr, respectively, representing a present value conversion and transfer of their earned benefits from the Verizon Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan.


The individual agreements of the other named executive officers are summarized below.

Charles R. Lee. Mr. Lee retired as an employee from Verizon on June 30, 2002. His agreement provides that from June 30, 2002 until June 30, 2004, he will serve as the non-employee Chairman of the Board. His agreement also provides that he will serve as a consultant to Verizon from June 30, 2002 through June 30, 2004. During this period, Mr. Lee will be an independent contractor and, except for certain continuing medical and life insurance coverage, will not be entitled to the benefits generally provided to Verizon employees. He will receive a consulting fee of $250,000 per month and will be provided office space and support, financial services and use of Company aircraft and other transportation.

In addition, for one year after his retirement date, he will be provided with the non-exclusive use of a Company apartment. All of his outstanding stock options are exercisable until the tenth anniversary of their grant date. Mr. Lee will receive financial planning services for two years and will be provided with office space and administrative support for five years after the end of the term of his agreement.

Ivan G. Seidenberg. Mr. Seidenberg’s agreement provides that he will continue to be employed through June 30, 2004. On April 1, 2002, he became the sole Chief Executive Officer. His agreement currently provides for:


• an annual base salary of not less than $1,500,000;

• an annual short-term bonus between 0 and 2.5 times base salary;

• annual long-term bonus opportunities of at least 8 times base salary; and

• the remainder of a long-term performance incentive opportunity in a target amount of approximately $2 million that is subject to a vesting schedule.


If Mr. Seidenberg’s employment is involuntarily terminated without cause or if he is constructively discharged, he will receive the following benefits for the period ending three years after his termination:


• monthly payments based on his base salary increased by at least 5% annually;

• annual payments equal to the short-term bonus he would have been entitled to receive;

• vested rights in the remainder of his long-term performance incentive award;

• an annual grant of stock options equal to 8 times his annual base salary increased by at least 5% annually; and

• the excess, if any, of the compensation earned by the Company’s Chief Executive Officer during this period over the amounts paid to Mr. Seidenberg pursuant to his agreement.


If Mr. Seidenberg’s employment is terminated as a result of his death or disability, he will generally receive the same benefits that he would receive if he were involuntarily terminated without cause. However, no payments will be made after June 30, 2004.