- 13 - having nightmares and headaches or that the prospect of losing his job caused him to contemplate suicide. At some point before Mr. Forste entered into the agreement with DHS in 1985, DHS adopted a nationwide plan to reduce by 10 percent the number of its partners and directors.7 Mr. Ladd was responsible for negotiating with the targeted partners and directors. Mr. Forste was at all relevant times completely unaware of the existence of this plan. As part of the plan, DHS offered a retirement package for those “targeted” partners and directors who were age 50 or older.8 DHS asked those targeted employees who were younger than age 50 to resign, and in exchange, it offered to pay them a severance of up to 1 year’s salary.9 Unbeknownst to Mr. Forste, he was targeted as one of the directors to be forced out of the firm. He was only 49 years old at the time, and he was not eligible for any early retirement package. 7During 1985, there were 95 partners and directors who either resigned or were given retirement at DHS. 8Early retirement was normally available only to persons who were age 55. As an incentive for the early retirement of its partners and directors, DHS modified the eligibility requirements under the directors agreement: DHS added 5 years to the age of targeted employees and reduced their service requirement from 15 to 5 years. 9Mr. Ladd testified that because DHS was a partnership, partners and directors were asked to resign. They were not fired.Page: Previous 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011