Executive Compensation

There is a good article from the Houston Chronicle this week outlining a non-compete dispute between two former compensation consultants and their former employer.  The facts are pretty standard fare for this type of dispute:

  • professionals have some type of non-compete agreement with former employer;
  • former employer finds out professionals are leaving in violation

                                       

Mark Garmaise, an Associate Professor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, recently published "Ties that Truly Bind: Non-Competition Agreements, Executive Compensation and Firm Investment." 

Garmaise concludes that enforcement of non-competes promotes executive stability, results in reduced executive compensation, shifts compensation towards a greater use of salary, and reduces research and development spending. 

Since my entry two weeks ago, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo chimed in again on Merrill Lynch 2008 bonuses in a letter (.pdf) to Congressman Barney Frank, Chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services.  The letter does not name names, but outlines numerous multi-million dollar payments to Merrill executives with the top 149