Bonuses

Four of Google Inc.'s top executives each received 2008 bonuses of more than $1.2 million. The bonuses disclosed in a regulatory filing were less than the awards doled out in 2007 when Google's profit rose 37%.

WASHINGTON - It's not difficult to get a bonus if you work for the Internal Revenue Service - even if you haven't paid your own taxes. The IRS handed out a total of nearly $1.1 million in bonuses in a 27-month period to more than 1,146 employees who had been disciplined for failing to pay taxes, according to an inspector general's report. "This is outrageous," said Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas). "The IRS is essentially telling its employees: Break the law and we will reward you. " The employees were among more than 2,800 at the agency who received performance awards within one year of disciplinary action, such as suspensions or written reprimands for drug use, filing fraudulent time sheets or other misconduct, the report found.

Complainers, excuse peddlers and social loafers. Every company has them. I'm talking about unmotivated employees who hurt not only business but also everyone working around them. So how do you motivate unmotivated employees? One way is to offer traditional financial incentives such as annual bonuses or employee-of-the-month awards. A start-up called Bonus.ly aims to change the incentive model, helping companies reward and motivate employees by using peer-to-peer bonuses. It uses a Web platform that offers a different approach to employee recognition, reward and collaboration.

Do Internal Revenue Service employees have a dress code? Maybe, maybe not. But when they look in the mirror, they must see themselves wearing a target. The IRS is probably the most disliked of federal agencies. Any joke beginning “the Internal Revenue Service” is likely to get a nasty laugh, and almost any one of the 535 people on Capitol Hill would be eager to make his bones on some IRS slip-up. And a lot of them have. So of course we're all giving the eye-roll to the story that the IRS handed out about $1.1 million in bonuses and other valuable perks, like time off, to 1,100 rank-and-file workers who got in hot water with the agency, their employer, for not paying their own taxes.

Re "Ailing AIG stands by need for bonuses," March 15 American International Group says it has to pay bonuses because of its contracts. Simple: No contract is valid, because the bonus money is not the company's. The bonus money belongs to the American middle class. It's my money and my neighbors' money. We do not have to honor a "contract" into which we did not enter. We demand that our money not be distributed to the obscenely greedy executives of AIG. Because AIG no longer has any money, other than our money, it no longer gets to write the rules.

Remember Solyndra, the solar panel maker that got $535-million government loan guarantees, only to file for bankruptcy less than two years later?    Well, some of its remaining employees could get bonuses of up to $30,000 apiece, even though the company is being liquidated. The judge overseeing the bankruptcy proceedings has OK'd paying a total of nearly $370,000 in bonuses if certain landmarks are reached, including the timely auction of some Solyndra assets, according to a Bloomberg News report.

NEW YORK -- Wall Street has been slashing jobs, kicking out traders and bankers as the finance industry shrinks. But those with high-paying jobs are still taking in fat bonuses. The average cash bonus on Wall Street last year rose an estimated 9% to nearly $121,900, according to a report released Tuesday by New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. Overall, the New York securities industry is expected to dole out $20 billion in 2012 cash bonuses, up 8% from the previous year.

To beat the competition, the management of American Airlines and US Airways is putting up some reward money. Under a recently announced incentive program, the company that now operates the two airlines has offered each employee a $50 bonus for each government-monitored performance category the merged carrier dominates. The two airlines have agreed to join forces and now operate under the management of the American Airlines Group. In March, the U.S. Department of Transportation is to release a ranking of the nation's airlines for on-time performance, the rate of mishandled baggage and customer satisfaction.

Bailed-out American International Group Inc. said Tuesday it had begun paying about $100 million in early bonuses to employees in the controversial division that nearly bankrupted what was once the world's largest insurance company. The early payments are part of a deal in which those workers voluntarily agreed to take about $20 million less than what they otherwise would be owed next month. The arrangement is an effort by AIG to avoid a repeat of the controversy that erupted in March when lawmakers learned of about $165 million in retention bonuses slated for employees of the company's Financial Products division.

NEW YORK -- Nearly half of Wall Streeters expect bigger annual bonuses this year, an industry study has found. Forty-eight percent of the 911 financial-services employees surveyed by EFinancialCareers believe their payouts will be higher than last year, the survey found. That's an increase from last year, when the survey found 41% believing their bonuses would jump. “The mood is better, some people will be happier, but we still have another quarter to go,” Constance Melrose, a managing director for EFinancialCareers, told Bloomberg News.

WASHINGTON -- The IRS paid a total of about $1.1 million in bonuses over about two years to more than 1,100 employees who had been disciplined for failing to pay their own taxes, according to an inspector general's report. Those employees also received awards of more than 10,000 hours of extra time off and 69 faster-than-normal pay grade increases. They were among more than 2,800 IRS employees during that period who got performance awards within one year of disciplinary action, such as suspensions or written reprimands, the report found.

A boy. A dad. A mid-April hike. "Baseball should have bowl games," the fifth-grader says. "I like the way you think," I say. Up the hill we go, like shadows on a wall - first him, then me. We are determined to hike all the way to his elementary school, about a mile up toward the clouds. It is a route we take five times a week by car, there and back, there and back, on the hamster wheel of suburban life. In the Saturday morning sunlight, I see the boyishness in his face - the breakfast in the corners of his mouth.

A posthumous musical collaboration between Roy Orbison and three of his sons will be included on a 25 th anniversary reissue of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer-songwriter's final studio album, “Mystery Girl.” The deluxe reissue is due May 20 and in addition to the album's original 10 tracks will include previously unreleased studio tracks and working demo recordings. It also will come with a “making-of” documentary “Mystery Girl: Unraveled” on DVD exploring the creation of that album and the new cross-generational track “The Way of Love” featuring Roy's original vocals accompanied by harmonies and instrumental backing provided by Roy Jr., Alex and Wesley Orbison.

PHOENIX -- Sometime in the relatively near future, perhaps even this year, Zach Lee could take the mound for the Dodgers in a regular-season game. Or Joc Pederson could step into the batter's box. If it happens, fans at Dodger Stadium might consider raising their plastic cups in a tribute to the man responsible: Frank McCourt. If not for the team's unpopular former owner, the Dodgers' two top prospects would be somewhere else. Lee might be counting down the days until the NFL draft.

TEMPE, Ariz. -- The benefits of a healthy Albert Pujols shouldn't just be felt at the plate this season. Pujols, relegated to designated hitter for 65 of 99 games in an injury-shortened 2013 season, has started nine of 10 games at first base this spring and has already flashed some of the range, hands, reactions and skills that earned him National League Gold Glove Awards with St. Louis in 2006 and 2010. “I'm really excited and happy with how I'm playing at first base and how I'm moving,” Pujols said.

Wall Street bonuses grew an estimated 15% in 2013, swelling to an average $164,530, the third-highest amount on record, the New York comptroller's office reported Wednesday. Firms will pay out an estimated $26.7 billion in bonuses to their employees for performance in 2013, state officials said. The estimate includes cash bonuses for that year and deferred compensation from previous years. "Wall Street navigated through some rough patches last year and had a profitable year in 2013," said New York Comptroller  Thomas P. DiNapoli . " Although profits were lower than the prior year, the industry still had a good year in 2013 despite costly legal settlements and higher interest rates.

WASHINGTON -- The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday sued Castle & Cooke Mortgage, accusing it of paying illegal bonuses to employees who steered home buyers toward higher-interest loans. The suit marks the first time a company has been targeted under new federal loan-origination compensation rules adopted after a mountain of bad home loans set off a global financial crisis. The bureau sued in federal court in Utah, where Castle & Cooke is based, accusing two of its top executives of running a quarterly bonus program that paid $6,100 to $8,700 to loan officers who persuaded consumers to take out pricier mortgages.

Escalating the government's intervention in corporate pay practices, the Federal Reserve moved Thursday to restrict the ability of thousands of banks to pay bonuses in an effort to curb risky practices widely cited for helping to trigger the global financial crisis. Under its proposal, the Fed would examine the compensation of any bank employees -- including senior executives, securities traders and loan officers -- who individually or collectively could significantly increase the amount of risk taken on by their employer.

More than 25,000 participants are expected to compete Sunday in the 29th annual L.A. Marathon. Defending men's champion Erick Mose of Kenya is among 16 competitors in the elite men's field. Ethiopia's Amane Gobena, who finished second in 2009, is among 10 elite women's competitors. Winners of the men's and women's races each receive $25,000. A $50,000 "challenge" bonus also will be awarded to the first runner to cross the finish line. The women will start 17 minutes 41 seconds ahead of the men, nearly a minute less than the 18:35 advantage of last year, when Belarus' Aleksandra Duliba finished 2:09 ahead of Mose.

Amane Gobena of Ethiopia won the women's race and Gebo Burka of Ethiopia won the men's race in the 29th Asics L.A. Marathon. Gobena, 31, won in 2 hours 27 minutes 37 seconds, collecting $25,000 for the victory. Burka, 26, clocked a 2:10:37 to win a marathon for the first time. He also won $25,000. Gobena won $50,000 for winning the gender "challenge. " The women were given a 17:41 head start and Gobena finished 41 seconds ahead of Burka. Joshua George won the men's wheelchair race in 1:33:11.