Would You Really Give Your AIG Bonus Back?

We are all outraged about AIG employees getting $165 million in retention bonuses after receiving $182 Billion. Yes, it is unbelievable that the people who are getting bailed out by the government for running a bad business now will get bonuses for staying with the business. You have the right to be upset. It is reported under unrelenting pressure, some of the employees have given back half their bonus.

BUT, if you were one of those AIG employees who got a retention bonus, would you really give it back to the government? You signed a contract and fulfilled your part of the deal so should you have to return the bonus that you legally earned? Is it your fault that AIG management put these in place?

I am unsure.

Try to put yourself in that place…What would you do?

About the Author: Barry

Barry Moltz has founded and run small businesses with a great deal of success and failure for more than 25 years. He is a small business expert that helps companies get unstuck. Barry is a bestselling author, in-demand keynote speaker, and dynamic radio talk show host.

7 Comments

Mike Maddaloni - The Hot Iron March 18, 2009 at 9:25 pm

If I were an AIG executive… taking into consideration my already inflated salary, coupled with death threats, I would give it back…

mp/m
Catherine Masak March 19, 2009 at 12:00 pm

I would sue for breach of contract.
I did my part and now company must pay me. Unless they can prove I did not uphold my part of the deal(contract) the owe me!
Mark Berge March 22, 2009 at 9:38 am

Well, for one thing the company is bankrupt. What happened if they filed for bankruptcy like Lehman did? Then how much would you get?
Jonathond Mcdones March 24, 2009 at 2:01 pm

The line between news and entertainment has officially been blurred beyond all recognition. Its a soft tyranny. How badly accuracy will suffer remains to be seen.
Barry Moltz March 24, 2009 at 6:01 pm

I am amazed how many employees seem to be giving their bonuses back….but I guess with the tax proposed in the House they may not have a choice.
Eric Sohn March 25, 2009 at 7:16 am

If it hadn’t been a government bailout, but the company had asked for people to defer their bonuses due to bad business conditions, what would people have done?

Honestly, the right thing to do would have been to pay the legally-contracted for bonuses, then cut the affected executives pay to $1/year to make up for it. Some folks in my firm had salary cutbacks – why should AIG be immune?

The 90% tax is going to run into legal challenges – it was a stupid move. Popular, yes, but stupid.

The problem was in the wording of the bill. But even so, company executives are already trying to find ways around the limits on compensation…

Can’t keep a greedy capitalist down, eh?
Barry Moltz March 25, 2009 at 7:37 am

@Eric Love the idea. Seems like a good solution. I don’t like the idea of a punitive law directed at one set of people either

Comments are closed.