As the Verizon strike 2016 continues, the company faces another accusation yet again. There are claims that it charges its executives' salaries and expenses to customers.
Huffington Post reported that Verizon may have been letting low-income families, senior citizens, small business and anyone who is using their network pay for "Corporate Operations." The company is believed to have divided executive compensation and charged it in state utilities.
Last month, the Verizon 2015 Proxy Statement was filed with the SEC. It revealed that a whopping $114,322,605, in the last three years, was paid to the top four executives of the company. In 2015, $41 million went for the compensation of these four people.
Moreover, if ever Lowell McAdam gets terminated, he automatically gets $40 million. He also caused Verizon to pay $126,000, which was included in his salary, for his personal use of the company aircraft. An additional $22 million may have been given as a bonus when he became CEO in 2011 as well as $7.6 million last year.
The publication added that Corporate Operations covers the scope of payment for the lawyers involved in negotiating the union contracts as well as the company's PR. "In short, Corporate Operations is paying for... well, everything that has nothing to do with the expense of running the state utility's local networks, or items customers should be paying for," Huffington Post wrote.
Not only is Verizon letting the customers pay for its executives' salaries, it is overcharging everyone who is using their phone or broadband service. "The Committee has the flexibility to take any compensation-related actions that it determines are in the best interests of Verizon and our shareholders, including determining when to request shareholder approval of incentive plans and when to award compensation that may not qualify for a tax deduction," Verizon countered.
According to Pasadena Star News, former customers of Verizon are still having problems with the Internet and other equipment. This comes after Frontier Communications took over the company's landline-related assets last Apr. 1.
