Former United Way Leader King files suit (Charlotte, Greensboro: lease, hotel)

[brokensky]

Originally Posted by flexysteve

Wait a minute, if she just grabbed money out of the charity funds without it being agreed to by the Board then I do have a serious problem with that. The Observer made it sound like the board agreed to "catch up" pension payments. In that case not only should she not get the money but she should be in prison for grand theft.

Her contract, assuming she had one, would not have spelled out the pension catch-up as that was a request she made long after signing that contract. And how this works is . . . there is an executive compensation committee made up of several members of the Board. Evidently that small group agreed to "catch up" her pension but were not aware of what that would actually cost. The action was presented to the full Board, and members rubberstamped it. How it was explained to me (by someone in the know) is that the full Board had no clue that the figure for "catching up" Ms. King's pension was even a fraction of what it turned out to be.

[Miker2069]

Originally Posted by anifani821

Her contract, assuming she had one, would not have spelled out the pension catch-up as that was a request she made long after signing that contract. And how this works is . . . there is an executive compensation committee made up of several members of the Board. Evidently that small group agreed to "catch up" her pension but were not aware of what that would actually cost. The action was presented to the full Board, and members rubberstamped it. How it was explained to me (by someone in the know) is that the full Board had no clue that the figure for "catching up" Ms. King's pension was even a fraction of what it turned out to be.

She has a contract, as the board is saying she's only entitled to approx $600K+ per her contract- not the $1 million she and/or her lawyer is asking for.

[brokensky]

Originally Posted by Miker2069

She has a contract, as the board is saying she's only entitled to approx $600K+ per her contract- not the $1 million she and/or her lawyer is asking for.

You are right. She does have a contract. And I bet on top of that $1 M she is asking for her attorney's fees to be paid, so add another $100,000 to it, Hee Hee.

[Miker2069]

Originally Posted by anifani821

You are right. She does have a contract. And I bet on top of that $1 M she is asking for her attorney's fees to be paid, so add another $100,000 to it, Hee Hee.

True enough. The more I think about it, the more sadden I am by the whole thing. Regardless of where you come down on this issue, the real losers are the organizations and the people the UW was helping.

[brokensky]

Originally Posted by Miker2069

True enough. The more I think about it, the more sadden I am by the whole thing. Regardless of where you come down on this issue, the real losers are the organizations and the people the UW was helping.

So true. Plus, these situations have a ripple effect throughout the community. People become so skeptical about how organizations are being run - wh/ is probably a good thing (accountability) . . . but when it turns potential donors off to making ANY donations (to any organization) - then it becomes a bigger issues than simply a problem at United Way. And yes, that is very sad.

[flexysteve]

Ok the way I see it, even if the Board rubberstamped the "catch up" then she's entitled to it. Let that be a lesson to all, pay attention what your signing and read it. I read all the pages of my closing document. Boy did the closing attorney hate that.

If it was "agreed" and then the Board told her to kick rocks, then she can kiss that money goodbye. Lesson 2, get everything in writing and C-Y-A.

I think if people put in the effort and donate directly at the same rate they would have donated through the UW, the end charities will benefit because they will get 100% rather than 80-90%

[vindaloo]

Originally Posted by cball75

Gloria Pace King files discrimination complaint | CharlotteObserver.com (http://www.charlotteobserver.com/597/story/472207.html - broken link)

Former United Way head files suit claiming discrimination in firing. Any thoughts on that? I must admit I am a little amazed that she did this.

Surprise! Surprise! It it definately shows racial descrimination paying her $1M per year with $35K expenses. LOL. When all else fails, cry descrimination? I am sure that she would rather sue, but I she is probably aware that she can't. She can take credit for destroying several charities in the area.

[renter07]

Originally Posted by Miker2069

Since the specifics of the post are about the law suit I'll stick to that.
I'm in agreement that it's not about race or gender.

I do have a philosophical differences in the way people here view non-profits and the view that somehow public opinion should be factored into compensation. The UW is a business, if I grow it, I meet expectations or exceed them, and I've keep the overall % of every dollar allocated for expenses low (I think in UW case it was less than 10% I can't remember). You'd think she would be doing a good job. This isn't the Bill Gates and Melinda Foundation in which they made their fortune in another business and just have so much money elsewhere they can afford to add their own money and tout the foundation for free (ala Bill Clinton).

King was in a no win-situation the moment the Observer released her compensation package. If she did a horrible job as everyone would say it's all her fault why donations are down and call for her head. She done a good job, now she's not responsible for any of it and can't take any credit or have that accrue to her. We can't even factor in her (good) record because it's now made irrelevant. Now getting the most compensation out of your job, which I think anyone would want to do, is now immoral.

Should we vilify the CEOs of bottle water manufacturers because of the unbelievable profit margin they make, after all it's just bottled water (this was an example excited by the big oil CEO during their annual take their tongue lashing from congress session).

I don't see anyone else who his compensated at King's level coming out against her. In other words it's usually and always someone who ain't getting paid lobbing the accusations. The same thing happens to people who buy big houses, they get labeled as moving into a McMansion- who needs a big box like that anyway.

All the talk of strong arming went away since the last go-round people mysteriously found the courage to not donate anymore.

If you want to work for free or next to nothing,fine, go for it but don't superimpose that on me or anyone else.

You're right on the money.

[renter07]

Originally Posted by flexysteve

Ani,
I don't think any of us are saying that we find her actions acceptable. Her morals are terrible. However the checks and balances in this deal and the ones who gave her this sum of money and signed her contract was the board. Being the CEO of a non profit she may have had to agree to be nice to people but not necessarily. She could have been a mean old miser but if she had the ability (or the board thought she did) to rake in cash for the UW, then as far as they are concerned she was doing her job.

Just so you know the mission statement of the UW is "To improve lives by mobilizing the caring power of communities." Now that's about as vague as you can get. "Mobilizing the caring power" doesn't mean "giving out money to people who need it". I take it to mean "Rake in donations from everyone in the community" So in that aspect King was following the mission statement. It also doesn't say who's lives it's going to improve, CEOs like King's lives sure were improved. So according to her, she could be following the mission statement.

Wow! That's a sound analysis!! Maybe the press coverage was one-sided, too.

[cball75]

The only loser is UW. After all that broke about her $, they had to remove her if they wanted to try to rebuild the trust of the giving public. If she stayed, donations would have vanished.