AOL chief ignites firestorm over 401(k) cuts and ‘distressed babies’ remark

[spanone]

It should have been a glorious week for AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong. His company’s quarterly earnings, announced Thursday, were the best in a decade. “Olympian,” he declared.

Instead, he angered employees, insulted parents with sick babies and shined a light on a practice seeping its way into corporate America that threatens to rob workers of thousands of dollars in 401(k) savings.


The strange turn of events began Tuesday, when employees began learning that AOL was switching its 401(k) match to an annual lump sum, rather than distributing the money throughout the year with every paycheck as it had done before. Only employees who remain at the company through Dec. 31 are eligible, meaning that anyone who leaves midyear won’t see any of the pay.

A number of companies, including Deutsche Bank and IBM, have been cutting their retirement benefits this way, saving millions of dollars just as more Americans are relying primarily on their 401(k)s because traditional pensions are being phased out.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/aol-chief-ignites-firestorm-over-401k-cuts-and-distressed-babies-remark/2014/02/07/2116c03a-9012-11e3-b227-12a45d109e03_story.html?hpid=z1

[tblue37]

1. With health insurance decoupled from employment, lousy employers need other ways to shackle

workers to jobs, and they can also get a nearly year's worth of work out of some employees and then fire them just in time to screw them out of the matching funds money.

[jsr]

2. Olympian asshole.

[spanone]

3. blames it on Obamacare

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong's 2012 Compensation Rises to $12.1 Million
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/aol-tim-armstrongs-compensation-rises-429956


AOL CEO Blames Workers' Costly Pregnancies, Obamacare for 401(k) Cuts
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-02-07/aol-ceo-blames-workers-costly-pregnancies-obamacare-for-401-k-cuts