- 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 NextLast modified: May 25, 2011