Steps to terminate HCE

We are a small aviation firm of 75 employees,
hauling freight for the Big Three auto companies;
Our CFO had a personal friend who separated from
one of the auto companies, and brought him on
board at $120,000 per year (huge by our standards),because his connections helped us secure some valuable auto business. He has no title, does no work, and in the past two years
(illness playing a major part), has been "at work"
62 out of the 520 scheduled work days. Our liaison
with the auto company is now questioning his salary, and asking us to justify it in light of
their contract with us. Our CFO realizes that
this person will never be a contributing staffer,
and the salary is a budget problem. He'd like to
end his employment, and is looking for a workable
approach to this end.
We are, of course, an at-will employer, but
would like to ease this guy into retirement
in some low-impact manner (if that makes any
sense!) Has anyone out there had a similar
circumstance, and, if so, can you give us
any suggestions for ending this situation
amicably? Thanks, Tracey

Comments

  • 8 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • In all seriousness, I would consult an employment lawyer about this one. Age issues, illness issues... sounds like a lot of landmines.

    And I would be pleased to take over the 120K/year job with no work. ;)
  • Yup, I want the job myself. Thanks for the advice, the Boss really bought himself some
    trouble here, and I think the real agony is
    the friendship thing. I'll have to proceed
    with caution.....Tracey

  • The CFO who made the decision to 'employ', and worse, retain this guy must really have some leverage at the company. Otherwise, any COO or CEO who has a vision of a profitable company would have strapped that CFO to a fast mule a long time ago.
  • CFO is his title. He is one of two owners -
    private company, family etc. Dumb, REALLY dumb,
    emotional move on his part to put this guy on.
    He came with baggage from past employment, and
    I have to believe my boss was aware of it.
    Sometimes I think the biggest threat to common
    sense business practice is that heady combination of booze and golf (I'm convinced the "hiring" took place on the 19th hole....Meanwhile, my boss has come to me with a sheepish look on his face asking for help to disentangle him from this mess - my knee-jerkresponse (not really, but I'd love to) is to send him back out on the golf course to look for his balls (sorry). You guys are right - we need some good legal advice. Apparently, the loose cannon in all this is the HCE's wife - thoroughly enjoying the free ride in her new Mercedes, etc. etc. Thanks for your input, Tracey
  • [font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 04-21-04 AT 12:38PM (CST)[/font][br][br]Just for my education, what's an HCE? I did a google search and found: Hierarchical Clustering Explorer. That guy might be dangerous!

    Edit: Never mind. I work in the public sector, and we don't have HCEs. At least not at my place of employment.
  • Well, in my jargon, it's a Highly Compensated
    Egomaniac (or is that Employee)?
  • Love your humor. Welcome to the humor club. And don't be so quick to blame this outcome on 'the boys' and 'the balls'. There had to be a woman in the mix somewhere and you've spotlighted her; the one in the Mercedes.
  • Interesting combo - highly comped executive with a HMW - high maintenance wife....

    Definitely one to consult an employment attorney about - hard to term for non-performance when you have no job description/title to measure it against.

    Also, be prepared for damage control if word leaks out to other employees after HMW bemoans the unfairness of the situation considering all her husband has done for the company during his illness.....yadda yadda yadda......

    Best bet may be separation agreement to "ease his way out" for the next few months - sounds like with his attendance that easing out won't be a problem :DD

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