ATLANTA -- Delta's board approved a new policy that requires
shareholder approval for executive officer severance benefits that
exceed 2.99 times the officer's salary and bonus, the airline said.
The policy is part of the continuing fallout from shareholder
anger over executive pay in 2002, including the $1.4 million bonus
outgoing CEO Leo Mullin received that year, as well as the $3.3
million in bonuses received by the other four highest paid Delta
officers.
That anger led to shareholder approval, at Delta's annual meeting
in April, of a pilot-proposed resolution that asked the company's
board to seek shareholder approval for future severance agreements
exceeding 2.99 times the salary and bonus.
Management had opposed that resolution.
To contact reporter Andrew Compart, send e-mail to [email protected].