No Names or Caps on "Pay Czar's" Comp Decisions

A Reuters news report said Kenneth Feinberg will also not reveal names when he discloses the first wave of compensation judgments in the next several weeks. Feinberg was appointed in June to evaluate compensation packages for the highest-paid executives at firms bailed out by the federal government.

The idea, according to Feinberg, is to set compensation that discourages excessive risk-taking and that relates pay to performance.

Reuters said that, for the past month, Feinberg and his team have been reviewing the appropriateness of pay packages proposed by seven companies that received extraordinary assistance from the U.S. Treasury: Citigroup Inc, Bank of America Corp, American International Group Inc., Chrysler Financial, Chrysler Group LLC, General Motors Co., and GMAC Inc.

According to the news account, the model, report, and formulas Feinberg is using will be made public and could serve as an example for other regulators or institutions.

The rest of the process, according to Reuters, calls for a 30-day period when the employers can ask for a reconsideration and then 30 additional days for Feinberg to take any additional information into account before rendering a final determination.

The final determinations are binding, Treasury has said.

After Feinberg finishes his review of pay packages for the companies’ top 25 employees, he will have to approve broader compensation structures for the 75 next-highest-paid employees, Reuters said.