back to article Former Nortel boss demands $12m in unpaid wedge

Former Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski has gotten right up his fellow ex-Nortel staffers' collective nose by slapping in a claim for over $12m in unpaid salary and bonuses. Zafirowski, who heroically failed in his effort to turn around the struggling networks vendor after joining in 2005, left the firm in August "with his head held …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    funny maths

    2.5+3.6

    = 6.1

    + 200,543.48

    = 6.300,543.48

    So where is the other 6 million coming from... if it is health and that dismemberment insurance then thats an awful lot of dismemberment insurance.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Reasnoble

    "This includes base salary of $2.5m" - OK

    "bonuses of $3.6m and pro rata bonus for Q3 2009 of $200,543.48." - NOT OK

    "health, life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance benefits of $50,000" - OK

    So that's $3m.

    You don't get a bonus if you fail unless that's in your contract. One could argue he didn't do his job, in which case he should have been dismissed earlier.

    We (public) have investments - these funds invest in Nortel and other companies. They should have influence on the board - who should sack under-performing execs quickly.

    Of course, he's just another creditor so hopefully won't see much of his claim at all.

  3. shawnfromnh
    FAIL

    Unbelievable

    This is the kind of mentality that bankrupts corporations. If a normal worker asked for a bonus when they didn't excel in this day and age they'd be told they'd be lucky to have a job and this guy acts like it's a right.

    Maybe their ought to be a law that when you work with company that sells stock out publicly should not pay bonuses when there are losses or the bonuses are reduced when profits don't increase. These companies have stock that is owned by millions including massive group retirement plans. When they give out these huge bonuses on losses they are basically giving away money that could be given to the investors in the form of dividends or even doing stock buybacks with it.

    I don't mind them giving a CEO a couple million dollars for a bonus if that CEO is directly responsible for making the company a $100 billion dollars extra though ingenuity or something. The problem is these guys reorganize the company costing the company billions, lay off thousands of employees at the same time and then without even improving their product which is the real cause of their lackluster performance to begin with expect huge bonuses. In reality all they did was move plants overseas so they now pay less taxes and layoff tons of people putting the burden of supporting them on the country and city they live in.

    This guy reeks of what is wrong with executives and management in big business today.

  4. TeeCee Gold badge
    Coat

    Re: funny maths

    "...thats an awful lot of dismemberment insurance."

    I suspect that like all insurance, the premiums are worked out on an actuarial basis. Now for most people the likelyhood of being hacked apart by a rampaging mob of machete wielding ex-Nortel employees is quite low, but.........

  5. Hollerith 1

    let's help him collect on his dismembership insurance

    By doing to him what happened to a fine company that hired the wrong guy.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Terminator

    As if he's expecting to collect...

    I don't think he really expects to collect, he just wants some paperwork to deduct this from his taxes as a monetary loss. And don't tell me you wouldn't do the same thing.

    "Canadian people say 'Get in line' ", well, that's what he's doing.

    See also http://www.allaboutnortel.com

  7. OldScot

    No worries

    Under Cdn law proceeds go: 1st banks, 2nd gov, 3rd creditors,... Lastly employees (if there is anything left). Very telling...

  8. John Miles 1

    re. funny maths

    Nothing unusual about 2.5 + 3.5 adding up to 12.

    Nortel execs had a bit of track record of overstating the numbers when it suited their bonus calcs.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Re: Funny Maths

    >>

    I suspect that like all insurance, the premiums are worked out on an actuarial basis. Now for most people the likelyhood of being hacked apart by a rampaging mob of machete wielding ex-Nortel employees is quite low, but.........

    >>

    But he'll be hacked apart by a rampaging mob of machete wielding Motorola (current or ex) employees

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