In exchange for promises not to sue or say anything bad about the company, McClatchy paid her $690,000 and will cover insurance premiums for her and her family through August 2010.
Any prospective employers interested in hiring Ms. Dickerson can only be directed to one person at the company, according to the agreement, and that person will only tell that she worked at McClatchy, how long she worked there, the positions she held, and her salary.
Turner points to this nugget inside paperwork McClatchy recently filed with the SEC:
"Dickerson acknowledges that all materials and information received or generated by her in connection with her employment with the Company, including but not limited to customer lists, customer information, product information, trade secrets, financial information, personnel information or other Company information, computer hardware and software, credit cards and keys (each and all collectively "Company Property") are the sole property of the Company. Dickerson represents that she has returned all Company Property to the Company, and with respect to software, she has returned (or disabled) the original software and all copies in her possession. Further, Dickerson hereby reaffirms her obligation to keep confidential all such information."
And, just in case you were wondering if Lynn Dickerson might come forward and shed some light on what is happening inside McClatchy's corporate office, forget about it:
"Dickerson agrees that she will not make any statements, either oral or written, which in any way criticize or disparage the Company..."
I'm not an expert on severance packages like this. But it seems like an awful lot of legalese... maybe intended to protect the company from something? Of course I could be wrong; maybe this is just standard language that companies always use when they dump a VP. Can anybody offer perspective?
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31 comments:
Much of what you quoted seemed like a very strong separation/non-disparagement agreement. Perhaps over lawyered for an amicable separation.
The reference comments caught my eye though. That seemed like there was more to this exit than we were told.
Impossible to know.
Interesting to speculate.
The cone of silence has fallen.
I wonder if Mz. Rosenberg will shortly have the same arrangement?
That's just standard sign-off stuff when an employee gets a buyout or severance package. Don't you read the papers you sign when McClatchy cuts you loose?
I'm not an expert on severance packages like this. But it seems like an awful lot of legalese...
It is a lot of legalese however that is pretty much a standard clause or two of any generic BOD/Executive contract.
They tend to cover just about any circumstance one could imagine and a few one might not. As far as prospective employers, that is the standard amount of information that most any former employer will give out.
Many executive contracts will actually limit the types of business that the executive can enter into upon separation and go so far as to prevent them from working in a similar industry for a period of time.
This is really nothing more than a standard "non-compete clause". There are many thing that you can find wrong with McClatchy but IMO this is just a feeble attempt to make a mountain out of a molehill.
I'll look around but that sounds like the paper I had to sign when I left. It might be a bit more detailed but it looks familiar.
Basically you promised not to take Company property, customer lists, etc. and that you would not take them to court for anything to get your severance check.
The real issue is why in the world is MNI paying these types of exit deals to incompetent idiots. Since she could have easily been fired it is obviously hush money.
"...incompetent idiots..."
You have no idea what she did, nor do I. This is your opinion. I can't imagine what she'd think of you.
I don't care what she thinks of me.
TV and radio have the same deals they cut with their fired employees. No bad-mouthing the company/station or you violate your severance deal and could face litigation. It's how they shut people up from publicly airing dirty little secrets.
If I promise to never utter the word "McClatchy" again, will they pay me $690k?
9:42 AM - She'd probably think "...incompetent idiot..." But you wouldn't care about that.
If you're correct, incompetence got her $690,000. What did it get you?
My guess would be a trip to the unemployment line and a box of government cheese and powdered milk.
11:07, that is what I am thinking too except I will go half of that just to undercut you...
Cool! Shouldn't take the rest of the crew, working extra shifts, taking furlough days, doing double assignments, to make up for that.
Hey, if you aren't willing to kick in a little extra to help a lady that loses her job, then what kind of person are you anyway? I'll tell you what kind of person you are, you are not a real McClatchy kind of person. We are all family. We share the same dreams, the same ideas, the same restroom and used paper towels. That's what kind of people we are.
All for one and one for all. Anyone that does not have a "Sharing is nice" coffee cup should contact their HR professional and get on the list.
12:26 PM, I want to add, besides used paper towels, we use only one sheet of TP. That is the skid mark of a true team player.
McClatchy’s huge hush payments remind me of the US politicians, ordering jets while they demean others for using their private planes. Crying poor mouth, while enriching the upper class. These liberals have the game down pat.
“You have no idea what she did”
Well that is not quite true, as McClatchy fails, she couldn’t have been all that good at her job, or why the race toward bankruptcy? She did her part to ruin the brand.
So if she made a million dollars a year and her years of service allowed her to get 40 weeks of pay for her severance package. Could that be where the dollar figure came from? The other language was standard in all the separation agreements. But hey, if this is "surprising details" to you then give yourself a cookie....
1:10 PM - Drinking already? Your post is nonsense at best.
1:17 PM - Again, you have no idea what she did. You offer speculation and opinion not fact.
She probably would think everyone else is an idiot. There is no bottom to the hypocrisy of the elite media hucksters. It would never occur to her that her incompetence helped take down an entire industry. It is odd that posters here don’t see the connection.
1:17 PM - MNI is tanking, and the She/VP had input to the current failure. What sort of proof do you need? The people at the helm are always blamed for failures. That’s why they get the big bucks.
“I don't care what she thinks of me.”
Right on, why would you care? It is fairly obvious what McClatchy thinks of their employees. I am sure she would think she is much smarter and better than the lower class employees, for starters.
Troll says, “Again, you have no idea what she did. You offer speculation and opinion not fact.”
What do you think posting to a thread is? It is opinions, and everyone has a right to their opinion. These Alinsky people are so transparent, demanding facts here, when they don’t ask for any balance of news from the biased media. They are taught to attack the poster, not discuss the topic. So transparent, so boring!
$690,000 is a lot of money for a company as bad off as we are led to believe MNI is. I am wondering if the rats jumping ship are gouging the company before it goes under? Too bad she didn’t get a “Thanks for your service” note, and a gold watch, perhaps a few less people would lose their job at the KC Star.
“She'd probably think "...incompetent idiot..."
That is the way liberals talk about others, she would think that of any honest working person. I don’t doubt that one bit.
McClatchy is handing out large severance payments, and we are writing as if these are regular business days. MNI is going down the tubes, employees are getting dumped right and left, and Pruitt says he is cutting back expenses to keep the company afloat. How does paying out this sort of money to an overpaid VP fit into that scenario? Anyone that believes Pruitt’s garbage is going to be disappointed. There are ex-employees on hard times already, and this jerk is laughing all the way to the bank.
11:11 it seems you pull your guesses from the same anal orifice that you pull your posts.
Her opinion of me, or yours for that matter, make no difference whatsoever.
She took a huge payoff from a company in trouble and promised to keep quiet about the facts.
What is mildly interesting is why do you care? What possible interest could you have in defending a rat flung from the first class cabin of a sinking ship?
"This post has been removed by a blog administrator."
The truth hurts sometimes.
The wording in the separtion agreement can be best explained by looking at the Minneapolis Star Tribune / Pioneeer press lawsuit. When Avista Capital hired A "Ridder" to run the Star Tribune. Who says newspaper exec's can't learn from their mistakes. CYA
The language in Dickerson's agreement is boilerplate for any industry. When I took a buyout from a McClatchy paper last year I had to sign something similar.
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