The execs at Tweeter are so noble (from July 26):
“The management incentive program is being withdrawn,” Hunt said. “It didn’t seem like the right decision to incentivize management when the creditors would get so little.”
And feel the workers pain:
Hunt said Tweeter didn’t intend to mislead employees who were helping in the company’s struggle to survive. “We feel bad about it,” the finance chief said.
At the time Tweeter told workers they would get extra severance if they stuck around to help with an orderly shutdown of some stores, the company did not know it was sliding into bankruptcy, Hunt said.
“That was in March, and in March the company did not intend to go bankrupt,” he said.
But wait:
Mark Stahlhammer worked at Tweeter for over three years when he was laid off. His store was one of 49 Tweeter stores that shut down. The severance agreement he was promised was just less than $1,500. He said it was cash he needed as a student working his way through college. But a week later, the company filed for bankruptcy, telling him there would be no money after all.
That doesn’t sound likely–they had no idea they would be going bankrupt a week before they filed? And (from July 24):
A hearing on the bid for top executive bonuses – amounts and names are being kept secret – was slated for Thursday. It has been rescheduled for Sept. 5, according to a document Tweeter filed Tuesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del.
….
Meanwhile, the judge overseeing the case has taken note of a brewing controversy involving employees who say they knew they were losing their jobs, but didn’t know Tweeter would not make good on promises of severance pay.
On Monday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Peter Walsh told Tweeter’s lawyer to respond to a communication from one of an unknown number of former Tweeter employees, Sten E. Johnson of Smyrna, Ga.
…
Court records indicate Tweeter never sought court permission to pay severance to those who lost their jobs in the bankruptcy.
So, it sounds like the execs decided not to seek bonuses after the judge started asking questions about the promised severance pay. And the execs claim that they promised the severance pay in good faith even though some of this was only a week before the bankruptcy and they never sought permission to pay the severance in the bankruptcy. Yup these are noble people all right.
Did you know that there are now plans to close at least 4 more Tweeter stores now? Perhaps those workers will get their severance.
[...] by fredtopeka on December 3, 2008 What is it with the company Tweeter? Last year they closed stores without paying severance that was promised workers and then tried to get bonuses [...]