Retiree Shareowners at Verizon Push Clawback Policy & Transparency on Lead Cables Hazard
02 Aprile 2024 - 6:00PM
Members of the non-profit Association of BellTel Retirees, Inc.
have two shareholder proposals that will be voted on at the
2024 Verizon (NYSE: VZ) annual shareowner meeting
taking place on May 9, 2024. The first centers on the senior
executive clawback policy and the second targets lead cables.
The BellTel Retirees have a long track record of acting as an
integral check for better governance practices. Since 2003, they
have spurred 12 changes to corporate governance, including three by
majority vote (2013, 2007, 2003).
The first retiree proposal, which gained 37.9% of the vote in
2023, proposes to amend Verizon’s Senior Executive
Compensation Clawback Policy (Item
#6). The current policy only allows
cancellation or recoupment of cash and equity compensation when
executives engage in “willful misconduct” resulting in a material
restatement of company financial results. BellTel believes the
current policy is too lenient and vague.
Thomas Steed, Chairman of the Association of BellTel
Retirees, is proposing this measure, which urges
shareholders to strengthen the standard from “willful misconduct”
to simply “conduct” that can cause financial or reputational risk
to the company.
“The clawback idea is very simple: If you didn’t earn it, you
should return it,” Steed said. “If an executive
receives a bonus or a stock award for doing something that ends up
harming the company, shouldn’t they return the money without
getting into lawyer concepts such as ‘willful misconduct’?”
The second proposal is a new measure regarding lead-covered
cables abandoned by telecom providers including Verizon and
AT&T. This issue was reported on extensively in a 2023 Wall
Street Journal investigative series. The U.S. Department of Justice
and the Environmental Protection Agency with its Superfund office
are currently investigating.
This Lead Cables Proposal (Item #9) requests
that Verizon conduct a comprehensive independent study, to be
released by December 2024, to assess all potential sources of
shareholder liability related to abandoned lead-sheathed cables.
This would include a comprehensive mapping of the locations
impacted and conclusions on the potential cost of remediation,
along with the most responsible and cost-effective way to
prioritize a solution to remedying sites that pose a risk to
environmental and public health.
Frank Bruzek, BellTel’s Chief Financial
Officer, said, “It is critical that Verizon focuses and
communicates on this issue with the same rigor it does with its
current business performance measures.”
Retiree and employee shareowners whose shares are held within a
Verizon savings or 401k Plan are required to vote by no later than
the afternoon of Monday, May 6, 2024.
Association of BellTel Retirees Inc.
Media Contact: Butler Associates, LLC.
212-685-4600Tom Butler – tbutler@butlerpr.com –
646-213-1802Nick Eilerson – neilerson@butlerpr.com –
646-205-7627Claudia Cowley – ccowley@butlerpr.com –
718-841-6599
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