- Attorneys for former Wal-Mart vice chairman Thomas Coughlin – who left the company amid charges that he defrauded the company of hundreds of thousands of dollars – told the courts in a filing this week that Coughlin has a signed deal with the company when he retired that forgave him any misdeeds committed while he worked there.
Coughlin is looking to have the court dismiss Wal-Mart’s efforts to void his retirement benefits.
The company says that Coughlin used the misappropriated money for his own benefit, and has referred the matter to federal prosecutors, who are investigating; Coughlin has been claiming that he used the money to pay off informers who kept him apprised of unionization movements, and that top management knew it.
Wal-Mart says that while it did have a deal with Coughlin, his lack of disclosure should render the agreement moot.
- KC's View:
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Forgive us, but who the hell gives an employee – any employee – what in essence is a “get out jail free” card?
Especially when the company knew that Coughlin had a cloud over his tenure, and that there could be all sorts of skeletons in the closet.
And, by the way, if Coughlin wasn’t defrauding the company, why would he want such an agreement?
