Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Such a Soft Landing

Trey Smith


You want to know one huge difference between the wealthy elite and the rest of us? It concerns the nature of how we are separated from jobs. We peons in the proletariat are lucky to get our last paycheck and are then told not to let door hit us on the backside on the way out, while the elite often are showered with the kinds of compensation and benefits we peons can only dream of.

In a post from a few days ago, I mentioned the firing of the Rutgers University basketball coach for his rampantly abusive behavior. The school had known about his behavior for months and the firing came about ONLY after journalists began looking into the situation. Because he had allowed the coach to keep his job when he first learned of the abusive behavior, many in the university and community at large called for the dismissal of Athletic Director Tim Pernetti as well. The chorus grew louder day by day.

Owing to the bad publicity Rutgers is receiving re this situation, Pernetti was "allowed" to resign, but as part of the agreement, he was able to negotiate a very soft landing for himself!
Former Rutgers Athletic Director Tim Pernetti is getting $1.2 million in salary, plus an iPad, car allowance and more than two years of health insurance coverage under a settlement agreement.

The Associated Press obtained details of the settlement Monday through an open records request with Rutgers. The Star-Ledger had previously reported some details.

Pernetti resigned last week after a video was made public showing former men's basketball coach Mike Rice shoving players and berating them with anti-gay slurs. Pernetti suspended Rice last December. The coach was fired last week.

Under his agreement, Pernetti is to be paid his base salary of $453,000 per year through June 2014 and a one-time payment of $679,500 in the next month. He gets the money even if he takes another job.

He also gets his $12,000 per year car allowance through June 2014 and health insurance and pension payments through October 2015.

Pernetti also gets to keep his Rutgers-issued iPad and laptop computer.
What a deal! It might sound a bit extravagant, but it is par for the course for the elite. How often do we read about a CEO for a company that has laid off hundreds or thousands of workers and/or has run the corporation into the ground? Despite being a poor manager, these folks are showered with money, stock options, benefits and all sorts of allowances. They certainly don't go hungry!

Even more galling is that few are unemployed for long. Regardless of how bad their track record is, someone is more than willing to give them a second, third, fourth or tenth chance.

Compare that experience to the rest of us. I was fired from a job once. I wasn't given the opportunity to resign. No, I was summarily fired. I received the wages owed me and not a penny more. I wasn't allowed to keep anything owned by my employer, not even a pencil. Not only did I not receive an extension of ANY benefits, but the agency fought me on my unemployment claim. And I never was able to work in that field again -- no second chances for me!

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