Executive threats to quit make pay czar raise salary limit
US pay czar Kenneth Feinberg, will exempt some AIG bosses from a $500,000 salary cap after at least five threatened to quit because of the limits, Bloomberg reports.
Feinberg, the Obama administration’s special master for executive compensation, may issue a ruling as early as next week on pay limits for 75 of the bailed-out insurer’s executives,
Feinberg said in October that base salaries at AIG wouldn’t exceed $500,000 a year except in cases where there was “good cause” to pay more. Treasury Department and Federal Reserve officials have urged him to strike a balance between curbing excessive pay and retaining key employees
Pay already cut
In October, Feinberg announced he reduced 2009 cash salaries for AIG’s 13 top-earning executives by 91%, and used more stock for their total compensation.
He controls pay for the 25 highest-paid employees at AIG and advises on the compensation structure for the next 75 workers. About half of the first group of 25 departed since the insurer’s September 2008 bailout.
