Wages And Salaries

Before its portfolio of bad loans helped trigger the housing crisis, mortgage giant Freddie Mac was the focus of a major accounting scandal that led to a management shake-up, huge fines and scalding condemnation of passive directors. One of those board members was Rahm Emanuel, now chief of staff to President Obama. Emanuel earned at least $320,000 for his 14-month stint at Freddie Mac.

With the state -- and their university -- struggling through difficult economic times, UCLA football Coach Rick Neuheisel and basketball Coach Ben Howland have agreed to take pay cuts, a school official said. Athletic Director Dan Guerrero, who has also agreed to a cut, said the details are still being negotiated but expects that he and the coaches will forgo as much as 10% of their salaries this year.

Protests, rallies and scattered class cancellations roiled University of California campuses across the state Thursday, on the first day of the fall quarter for many students. But predictions by some organizers that the 10 campuses could be shut down by demonstrations against fee increases and pay cuts did not materialize. The size and intensity of the protests and related activities varied significantly across the UC system. An estimated 5,000 people demonstrated at UC Berkeley, the oldest campus; just 20 or so took part at UC Merced, the newest.

Staff shortages are forcing tens of thousands of state workers employed at prisons and other around-the-clock institutions to report to work on their furlough days -- and the state is paying them with what amount to IOUs that will be costly to taxpayers, according to a Senate report to be released today. In the long run, the state will save far less than the $1.7-billion touted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger when he ordered state workers furloughed three days a month, the report concludes.

Lawmakers on Tuesday denied themselves a pay raise next January but, with an eye toward a better economic and political climate, decided to retain their automatic cost-of-living raises for future years. A blur of last-minute procedural maneuvering in the Senate produced a salary package for members of Congress that holds their annual pay at $174,000 until 2011.

Bank of America Corp. owes Kenneth D. Lewis, who is quitting as its chief executive at year's end, $68.8 million on his way out the door. Lewis accumulated that amount in his 40 years of work at Bank of America and predecessor companies. Topping the list of assets is a lump-sum pension benefit that was valued at $53.2 million in the bank's last public report on his holdings. That report, in a proxy filing this year, also said Lewis, 62, had $10.6 million in deferred compensation coming his way. And he will keep 305,000 shares of restricted stock that will vest over the next few years, which, at today's stock price of $16.34, is worth about $5 million.

Wall Street could learn a thing or two from 24-year-old video-store clerk Beatriz Corrales. "I love movies," she said from behind the counter at the Video Hut outlet in Hollywood's Franklin Village neighborhood. "If someone can't find a movie, I go and search the Internet for them. They could do it at home, but I'm happy to help." Surely that kind of going-the-extra-mile should merit some sort of bonus. Corrales laughed. "No bonus," she said.

For most working Californians, I suspect, the holiday season is only a distant memory. They're back deep into the grind. And it will be months before there's another company-paid official holiday, Memorial Day. For state employees, however, the holiday season never seems to end. Their first relief from the back-to-work grind will come Monday, Martin Luther King Day. In February, they'll get two holidays four days apart: Lincoln's birthday and Washington's birthday.

Hewlett-Packard Co., the world's largest personal-computer maker, valued Chief Executive Mark Hurd's pay last year at $42.5 million, including bonuses from previous years. Hurd received $1.5 million in salary, a $5.3-million bonus, $12.9 million in stock awards and $18.6 million in non-stock incentive plan compensation, the Palo Alto company said Tuesday in a regulatory filing. He also received $4.2 million in option awards, pension payments and expenses.

Walt Disney Co., the second-largest U.S. media company, gave Chief Executive Robert A. Iger an 11% raise to $27.7 million last year after he expanded profit for eight straight quarters. The salary and other compensation for Iger, 56, was disclosed in a regulatory filing Thursday by Burbank-based Disney. In 2006, Iger received $24.9 million, according to the filing. Disney stock gained 14% for the fiscal year ended Sept. 29. Fourth-quarter profit rose 12%.