Golden Coffins Under Attack

The recent financial downturn has left a sour taste in the mouths of many when it comes to the salaries of big company CEO’s, including “golden coffins” – generous posthumous payouts to senior management.  According to Joann S. Lublin, Activists Push for Lid on ‘Golden Coffin’ Benefits, Wall St. J., March 9, 2009,

Dozens of companies offer generous death-benefit packages to recruit and keep executives. Many allow heirs to collect previously unvested equity. Some promise posthumous severance payouts, supercharged pensions or years of postmortem salaries.

Activist shareholders are trying to prevent these golden-coffin deals for at least 14 major companies.  See the above cited artricle for a list of the companies and more information on these benefits.

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.