I want my PTO

I totally agree

As recent newly-weds, my wife and I planned to put my PTO toward a down payment on our first home.

Had the court’s original ruling not promised the payout, I, along with many of my co-workers, would have taken 45+ days off, thus causing a work stoppage at our client sites. I’m sure would have produced a different outcome with the sale of BE public services; I can’t imagine anyone wanting to buy a company whose contracts are all up for re-compete…

I’m not here to whine, I just want to make sure our voices are heard.

I feel this was bait and catch scheme that was timed perfect. I mean up until the close date all benefits were to be paid out. I find it ironic that had I left the company before the sell I would have been paid in full for my earned benefits. I do feel this was under handed just because of the precision of the announcement. There is no turning back the clock and a judge will now get have the final say.

The one thing this experience is pushing me to look at is capitalism versus socialism. I will embrace my time off and no more will I work more than 8 hours a day be it client related or extra company stuff. There will truly be a work life balance shift in my favor going forward. Where is the incentive to work when you have to protect the benefits you earn so closely going forward. Time off is part of a total compensation package and I feel like I was mislead on the value of my work. I wouldn’t be so angry if I had a 30% utilization rate but my rate was pretty close to 100% which means the company got paid all the extra hours I worked for the client but did not get compensated for on top of that the vacation I earned was not paid out so who learned the lesson here I did the hard way.

Let’s see if going forward all the good stuff we hear about work life balance being important still holds up. You require me to do e-learning I’m taking off two hours early so I can complete your requirement. Oh and I will not be working a ten hour day tomorrow at the client. Proposal work??? Sure I will not be reporting in to client site for a week or until it gets written. Time is money and so is PTO>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Real push for work life balance

Accrued PTO is an asset of the employee – period. It should not be up for debate. Assurances were presented and confirmed by the court, and critical professional decisions were made as a result of this assurance. This decision will have a major impact on the success of this acquisition.

The fact that the creditors are even coming after this money is unforgiveable….

I, like many of my fellow consultants, put off on taking PTO becuase of client obligations and to meet Revenue goals for the practice. If we had been told back in April that there was a chance that we would not receive a payout on our PTO I would have left the company (and then I would receive a payout) or I would have utilized my PTO and taken some time off.
Once the decision was made and communicated to payout the BearingPoint employees transferring to Deloitte, the decision should not be reversed. Many of us plan on that time-off or the monetary value of the PTO!

Let’s face it the only true assets of the company are the employees who were bringing in the Revenue and selling services. Of course they were going to keep that PTO carrot out there so we would keep selling our services in order to keep the cash flow coming in. Who would want to buy a company with debt no contracts and no employees???

If we all took time off or decided to migrate to a more stable situation the creditors would have made any money from the sell of a debt burdened company. Who caused this debt burden? The Senior Officers of the company not the lowly wage earning employees bringing in the cash while not taking PTO.

Now they creditors got money for the sale, they want more (the cash that’s left) and if they pay the folks who made it possible to sell the company, there won’t be enough cash to make them happy.

Pay out the PTO that was promised and kept employees from jumping ship in a mass exodus. Where are the ethics and moral decencies in our system? The actions of the creditors has proven there are truly no ethics in business you can tell a group of people one thing to benefit your needs at the time and once your needs have been satisfied you can do a 180 and deny you ever agreed with your previous position. No wonder we have witnessed a housing crisis and a near collapse of our financial institutions a system, built on trust and good faith is only as honorable as the people entrusted to uphold the system.

In short there is a lack of honor in our society and this is an example of one group misrepresenting their intentions for their own gain at the expense of the employees and their families.

I didnt take my PTO becuase of the project deadline. I thought not leaving and staying would show my loyalty. I was ok with the fact that they will atleast cash it out. There is a difference between earned money and invested money.

I don’t even know where to start.

1. Those of us who had the highest leave balances essentially earned the most for the company, and are subsequently getting the least. I compare this to raising taxes on the hardworking wealthy individuals to pay for a lot of not-so-hardworking individuals to collect welfare (I’m not trying to start a political discussion, I do understand that there are legitimate cases for state-sponsored care).

2. Management at BE led us to believe that we were assured payment of our PTO. Two days after we were officially ex-BE’ers, this changed. Coincidence?

3. People who left BE immediately before the acquisition received PTO. Those of us who were loyal, kept working, and earned extra revenue when we could have been vacationing are receiving legalese excuses.

4. I hope the court follows the intent of the law, and not necessarily the letter of the law. PTO is earned, just like a paycheck. If BE could provide paychecks through the end, they should be able to provide PTO payments as agreed to in our offer letters from years ago.

5. The creditors knew of the risk and apparently deliberately waited until the acquisition was complete to make this challenge, after it was too late for employees to do anything about it. Where I come from, a handshake constitutes a contract more binding than anything on paper. I don’t believe that these people grew up in the same world.

6. We should all do our part, and get the word out about this as fast and far as we can. There may be just some outside chance that we can actually make a difference. Kudos to the creator(s) of savemypto.com, they took action while the rest of us were just complaining.

Once again, the creditors get a deal:

http://blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/2009/06/01/bearingpoint-pga-reach-a-deal/

So they’re going to get paid even though they are no longer providing a service (advertising), while we did provide a service and get diddly.

It may not be the official responsibility of the acquiring company to pay out the PTO but they’re going to end up with a lot of pissed off and less-willing-to-work employees if they don’t take action.

It sounds like BE is fighting for us, I’m not a lawyer but this document sounded convincing to me (I’ll admit my bias):

http://www.bearingpointinfo.com/site%20files/801_10691.pdf

Maybe there is hope?

I believe BearingPoint should issue a statement much like Otter’s (Time Matheson) statement to Flounder (Stephen Furst). “You f*cked up. You trusted us.”

I found this article. Cali has more to offer than good weather!!

http://courthouseforum.com/forums/view.php?id=1058176

Re: BearingPoint ignores Californial labor laws during Deloitte transition

guest wrote:

BearingPoint has chosen to completely ignore this law and hand out final paycheck when they want to, up to 30 days in the future.

Response:

NOT TRUE that BearingPoint ignored California labor laws, as all former BearingPoint employees that were California employees DID receive their PTO payout after the Deloitte transition was final.

However, the rest of the former BearingPoint employees that were not as fortunate to live in states like California with employee-friendly labor laws are still awaiting the court’s decision.

What’s next our bonuses?????? Or will I end up getting a pay cut and my wages garnered to pay for the BE debt that was incurred????? Is this just the first of many F*** U’s we got ours to come??????

My thanks go out to PGA takes precendence for supplying the link to the PGA article.

Why did BE execs get a great pay out when they made stupid deals like this when bankruptcy was looming? Did they really think that an obscure banner in a pavilion at a golf tournament would save the company and bring us back from the financial brink? I love how the article says that the PGA agreed to release BE from its obligation as though it was doing BE a favor. Yeah, a favor for $4 million. For doing nothing. The article refers to the PGA as BE’s 6th largest unsecured creditor. I beg to differ. The employees would reduce them to number seven for sure. Poor golfers. We should all show up at the next tournament with BE visors and cheer for our buddy Phil. Lucky him. BE let him go way before this all happened. He probably got his PTO.

Many of us helped keep Public Services as an enticing candidate for purchase by working long hours, and through vacations in order to “save the firm,” and once the acquisition neared… to “save the contracts” so we’d be worth purchasing. (I, like so many others) have well over 100% utilization over the past two years, while eating 100s of hours to “save profit margins” and earn contract renewals/recompetes, etc.). The reward is… no PTO, and we transfer with no earned vacation… right at the beginning of summer.

Lovely.

Even now my account manager (a former BE employee who has transitioned to Deloitte) says “you’ll need to take some vacation before the end of this contract to keep the profit margin… maybe a three day weekend.” 3 day weekend… since when is that a vacation when you work 70-80 hours a week, and are on call 24/7 w/ work almost every weekend.

Like Hyman Roth said in Godfather II… “This is the business we’ve chosen.”

PTO is not a bonus, it’s part of our compensation package. Pay me what you owe me.

Do we have any news on the PTO????????

I don’t know why I didn’t get my PTO from BE because they laid me off on May 8th? My co-worker who quit April 27 got his PTO on May 31st. They promised me my PTO in the termination letter but never got it. I never got any notices from BE until I called the helpline.

Alright already tell me what’s the status of the PTO pay out???????????????

So if the judge does, indeed, decide to donate the PTO of the former BE employees to the creditors, what are the chances of a successful appeal/counter-suit/class-action suit?

The bankruptcy court is supposed to decide on July 1st. PTO payouts are frozen until then. The filings are all on bearingpointinfo.com.

BE and Deloitte are both fighting the creditors on this. Deloitte (and I think also PwC) are saying they relied on BE being able to pay the PTO when they made their purchases. How will BE deliver all that intellectual property to the purchasers if the remaining IT team walks and the network is gone?

Instead of just posting on a website, has anyone done anything? Any ideas?

I’m thinking this is just the kind of thing that the current administration and media would be all over: the big bad financial institution creditors stomping on all us employees — especially the laid off people. I heard MDs still get their PTO. Haven’t heard about those exec bonuses.

I think a couple of issues are being confused here.

1. No one is questioning whether PTO was earned or is owed to employees who earned it. There is univeral understanding that BE owes this money to its employees.

2. The question is where employee PTO stacks in the list of those who are owed money by BE.

3. The key point: even if the court rules in favor of current and former BE employees, it is highly unlikely that anyone will receive their PTO payments. There is very little operating funding still in the BE accounts; unlikely enough to pay PTO. So the only alternative would be for BE to borrow it…and I I don’t think anyone out there is ready to lend BE money right now.

4. Regardless of the court decision, former employees will still have the ability to sue for PTO payments and will probably be successful. But when BE goes Chapter 7, there won’t be any money to sue for.

Where did you see the July 1 date for a PTO decision? I thought the judge said he would make a ruling within 2 weeks of the date when he froze the PTO (which was May 21)… We were expecting a decision this week (week of June

In reply to Ideas????
I bet the MDs get more than just their PTO in this deal. How about switching from a publicly traded company into a partnership I’m sure they got an equity share… They’d be fine losing out on a little PTO compared to the gain on being a P/P/D. Oh and I get to keep my job. Sorry to those who got laid off.

My understanding is that the MDs that are becoming partners (equity owners) have to “buy in” to get an equity share and its not cheap. Also, the ones I know state that they have not gotten their PTO either… they are in the same situation the rank and file are in.

How do these people sleep at night? Greed knows no boundaries. It’s one thing to try and get everything you can out of BE, but my PTO doesn’t belong to BE. I earned it, it’s mine.

BE doesn’t have enough money? Maybe some of the $350 million they got for PS could go for paying out PTO, as well as the money for everything other chunk of the company they sell off.

“I’ll take a handshake any day”:

I’ll respond point-by-point:
1. Your point? Everyone’s getting screwed over, and there’s no point in trying to create class warfare where it doesn’t exist. It’s not like the creditors said “oooh, this guy had 2x as much PTO as everyone else, let’s F him up twice as much!” They just don’t want to pay out PTO, regardless of how much is owed to any one person.

2. You REALLY think that there was this gigantic conspiracy among all the management to steal our PTO and lie to us? The judge – in the absence of any opposition to the plan at the time – had approved the plan to pay out all benefits and PTO at the time. As part of the bankruptcy process, he is obligated BY LAW to consider all claims by the creditors.

3. Do your research. It’s not “legalese excuses”, there is a (according to bankruptcy law) legitimate claim by the creditors to the money that would go to paying out PTO. Those that got out before the brouhaha and got their PTO first didn’t get any special treatment, they just got clear of the company before the trouble happened. Plain and simple.

5. While I would personally agree about the handshake, legally speaking it’s not binding. Whether the creditors did maliciously time their challenge after the acquisition, none of us know, and while it’s a fair argument, it won’t help us to belabor the point.

6. Do you really expect a blog, with a single post and a bunch of anonymous comments (which may or may not be from actual employees/ex-employees), to influence a judge? The judicial branch should not be directly affected by public opinion – they are supposed to apply the law (and any existing precedents) to specific cases. The executive and legislative branches are where you go if you want to sway with public opinion.

“Pessimist”:

Good summary, you hit the nail on the head.

“Earned Income is not Unsecured Debt”:

You forget that BE owes a lot of money to creditors as well. In fact, even if the company had not paid any of us employees a cent, that 350 million still wouldn’t cover the debts. That’s the point of Chapter 11 bankruptcy – the company can’t pay everyone (creditors, etc.) so the court will divvy up what money does exist. Nobody recoups everything they’re owed, but the goal is to get at least something for everyone who’s owed money.

I hate this situation as much as every other employee/ex-employee, but please people, do your research and get your facts straight before you rant. Otherwise your arguments are useless.

Oh Please, I heard the top managers got their severage payment while fools like me worked and made money for them. Then they laid me off in 1 day and didn’t even give me a severage. In my termination letter they promised to pay me my PTO and that’s all I am asking for, I worked for it!!!! I need it now.

When will the judge decide? This wait is killing me. Can we call him and ask him to make a decision

If nothing else it’s good to rant a bit with like minded people. I think we all realize the situation has to do with the creditors and the courts. This is a great life experience to learn from and chalk it up as that. The measure of a person is what they do when their down. I think we all need to dust ourselves off and make Deloitte PS the best company we collectively can.

I’m sure we’ll all rant rave then move forward.

I agree with the anonymous person right above this one — we all know this won’t likely have a bearing in a court of law, but it does feel good to rant.

Come on, “Get your facts straight”, as literally (and cynically) as you have interpreted every single comment, even YOU must have felt at least a little better having put something down for the world to read.

Lighten up, we’re all in the same boat here. And just because some of us are ‘glass half-full’ people doesn’t mean you have to rain on our parade. This whole PTO thing is doing enough of that already.

My utilization rates were way over 100% for the past 2 years. I was the first to join in my division and I made a lot less salary than the team of nearly 20 people that joined after my work enabled the team to grow by that many. While I was working very hard on 3 or more engagements while also doing proposals and not reporting many of those hours, my colleagues had time to look for new jobs and left with their PTO. Now I’m at Deloitte with my original clients, with nothing really changing while my colleagues with zero billable work are free to network with the new Deloitte staff. They’re stress free enjoying life because unlike me with nearly 300 hours of PTO, they used up all their time last year. I know a lot of us are in the same boat but I would like to write to the judge and implore them to make a decision sooner rather than later. Just do the right thing.

I think maybe we can call the law clerk for judge gerber, maybe they can pass on the message about our angst and pain. Its almost 4 weeks now.

Judge Robert E. Gerber 212-668-5660
Courtroom Deputy: Helene Blum 212-668-2870 ext. 3622
Law Clerk: Doron Kenter 212-668-2870 ext. 3624
Law Clerk: Charles Pollak 212-668-2870 ext. 3625

I am in the same boat, I too had over 300 hrs of PTO and I could really use that money for all the hard work I did for the company….that’s at least what they owe me. I can’t believe they paid out the severance and not the PTO, PTO is something you earn and not given like a severance.

It sounds like phone calls to the law clerks cannot hurt… the judge needs to see the tremendous personal impact on employees and their families of losing their leave after being promised they would receive it as a condition of termination. Perhaps if they get a couple of hundred calls they will realize this is not a trivial issue. Employees could lose their homes if they do not have their PTO to cushion the impact from losing their jobs while seeking a new job.

Well i just called and spoke to Deputy Helen Blum. She seemed to be very nice kind lady. She highly encourages all the BE employees to write to judge at this address
———————————–
Judge Robert E. Gerber
united states bankrupty cout
One Bowling Green Ny Ny 1004

———————————

PLEASE MAKE YOUR VOICES HEARD AND WRITE TO HIM AS YOU ARE POSTING HERE. MAKE HIM AWARE OF YOUR GRIEVANCES.

How soon will you update your blog? I’m interested in reading some more information on this issue.

I for one have just written a letter to Judge Gerber. Incidentally, his correct address is:

Judge Robert E. Gerber
United States Bankruptcy Court
One Bowling Green
New York, NY 10004-1408

Please Save my PTO

I was going to use my PTO money to attend a conference in New Jersey. The money would have just covered the expenses. Now, I’m scraping together leave time AND money for the trip.

I’m becoming more and more convinced that working for other people just makes me vulnerable to the lack of wisdome of ther people. If I’m going to be hung out and dried, I would feel much better if it were by my own hand.

Thanks all for all great information about contacting the judge and let him be aware that our PTO is not really negotiable; this is something we earned, worked hard for and were promised after the bankruptcy by the CEO. I was personally promised in my termination letter. The weird thing is my co-worker left a week before I did and he got his PTO on May 31st he states. We need this money during unemployment to help us through. We don’t have a business to back us up or take it as a loss on our tax return as the creditors can. I will be writing this judge also. I hope he gets it before he makes his decision. I hope BE management are really fighting for us for once.

Everyone should write the judge immediately… remember, he may make a decision within a few days, so the sooner you send him your letters and appeals the better. Send them tomorrow!! LaifoffBE, you have a lot to say,and the judge needs to hear your story, as well as everyone else’s story. Your note hits home, and will convey an important message that everyone, particularly the judge, needs to hear.

I was asked today by another employee about the point of this site? This lead me to reflect on what this website meant to me, and I decided to re-read all the comments again.

What has this site done so far?

For starters it has given all employees the ability to express how this ordeal has affected them. Secondly, it has unearthed pieces of information and interesting facts that some of us may have never known (thanks Mr. Fact Guy/Girl). Lastly, it has given others a chance to bellow to the world. Rightfully so, who can really afford to lose money (especially in a recession) and not be pissed off about it. I believe whoever said misery
loves company was correct!

Some question just how effective this site maybe.

Truthfully I do not know, but what I do know is that we are in a new era where blogs, Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter are king. Collaboration, information, and the Internet have proven to be one of most powerful tools ever created. No longer do we have to stand in picket lines to be heard, the new picket is the number of page views (FYI – savemyPTO.com has nearly 2,400 in just 4 weeks). The pen is still mightier than the sword but so is your keyboard. How can one not realize the sheer dominance of the Internet and how it changes lives for better or worse, it cannot be ignored and neither will I!

“The Last Consultant”

Looks like this issue is on the slate again for Friday…
http://www.bearingpointinfo.com/site%20files/892_10691.pdf

Wow. that soon, I am not sure the Judge can see our letters by then. Is there an email address for the judge?

Can we send the Judge this blog to look at, to see how this is affecting us?????

People that had a negative PTO balance had thier last paycheck reduced by the amount they owed the company. So why would employees have to pay back negative PTO? Shouldn’t that be forgiven??

So if you had a negative balance you had to pay it back but if you have a positive balance, you don’t get paid…nice.

I too thought about the time to send off a letter and would like to do an email. Do we have an email address for the Judge? I wasn’t able to locate one online and in the interest of time, I think that would be best.
Thanks for this site. I’d follow you on Twitter but I wasn’t able to find you there.

I concur, we really need to get our voices heard…is there an email address for the judge anyone? I seek comfort in this site, thank you for the site….:)

I mailed my letter last night. I’ve heard that the date has been moved back to July 1st. So, you should still have time.

I didn’t see anything about the date changing from tomorrow but I called and there is no public email address to the Judge. The court will take hand delivered mail if there’s anyone in NY willing to walk it over. The court also suggested Fed Ex as a possibility to make it in time.

I dont know where the July 1st date is coming from, since all of the dockets say its on the 19th…. nonetheless, everyone should still send in their letters, because certainly it could be delayed if the judge is unable to reach a final decision on the 19th.

It appears that the “Deloitte employee group” is fighting hard for our collective PTO rights… take a look at this docket filed late yesterday:

http://www.bearingpointinfo.com/site%20files/915_10691.pdf

As an affected employee, I really appreciate the efforts of Deloitte Employee Group in taking this and fighting hard for the group . It’s pity that sometimes we have to fight harder even to btain our legitimate and genuine rights.

Any new news?

I understanad that the judge delayed the hearing on this issue until June 29th…. apparently the feedback from the Deloitte Employee Group, plus other correspondence that has been received has caused him to deliberate more on this issue.

So send in your letters!! Everyone’s opinion does matter, and your voices will be heard…

Will he receive letters as the statment above stated he doesn’t get delived mail and I can’t afford Fedex while I am unemployed????? Will he receive my letter?

I would think that he will get your mail as there is plenty of time…the judge needs to hear about everyone personal hardships that this has created

I was reading through the document posted by the Deloitte Employee Group that somebody was kind enough to share. I’ve gone through quite a few of these documents in the last few weeks on this issue and have been able to get the main gist of them, even though they are filled with a lot of legal jargon. However, on this one I just laughed out loud when I came across this line that is clearly plain English. The Employee Group is referring to the short notice of the hearing that was supposed to occur on the 19th:

“The context in which the Conditions are being raised and the manner in which the Hearing was
noticed (3 days notice) smacks of an ambush.”

I love it!

Current status from Washingtonpost

BearingPoint delayed a hearing to seek permission to pay severance and time off to employees out of its cash collateral, after creditors objected to the estimated $94 million in costs.

BearingPoint attorney Alfredo Perez told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert E. Gerber in Manhattan that the McLean-based company, which is selling off most of its business while in bankruptcy protection, would keep using cash collateral under its current arrangement with lenders for another two weeks. A hearing on the motion, which includes the request to pay severance and PTO, or paid time off, was rescheduled for June 29.

The creditors committee said costs to pay severance and time off have climbed since BearingPoint agreed to wind down remaining assets after the company’s financial-services business was sold to PricewaterhouseCoopers. A May 6 presentation that projected costs of $52.9 million for the PTO program and $41.4 million for severance “cast considerable doubt on the prospects for meaningful distributions to unsecured creditors,” the creditors said.

The filing from the Deloitte Employee Group is certainly welcome. I’m not a lawyer, but I think that there is one line of argument that is missing in the presentations made thus far to Judge Gerber.

The missing point is that if the court rules in favor of the creditors, it will make it more difficult for both management and the courts to ensure a focused work force in future company bankruptcy reorganziations.

BearingPoint employees remained focused on their jobs and did not exercise inordinate amounts of PTO in the immediate aftermath of the company’s bankruptcy filing because they reliably believed management assurances that they would be paid for PTO. These assurances were based upon on the court’s initial ruling that employee pay, to include PTO, would remain intact.

If the court essentially reverses itself in this matter, it could undermine employee confidence in future bankruptcy rulings and take away a key tool for both management and the courts to ensure work force stability.

If the creditor’s motion is accepted, then workers in future bankruptcies will never be able to believe assurances such as, “please keep working and stay focused on your job, you will be paid”. Any court or management assurance of this type will always be in doubt, because an example would be set that it could be easily reversed.

Think of the public policy implications of a large scale bankruptcy, like General Motors. That pre-arranged reorganization is a carefully balanced proposal between management, creditors, and labor. What if labor was now led to believe, as a result of a ruling in the BearingPoint case, that any assurances they currently have could be capriciously reversed after the fact? Would this make it more difficult to achieve the consensus that is now needed for General Motors to emerge from bankruptcy as quickly as possible (an important goal for not just the parties involved, but in the public interest as well)?

I understand that legal precedent in civil bankruptcy cases does not have the same force as in other areas of the law. However, the court should be mindful of the wider message that it may send by essentially reversing itself after the fact on this matter of employee PTO. Granting the creditor’s petition could very well have an unintended and undesirable second order efffect in how employees act in response to future company filings for bankruptcy reorganziation.

I have to believe that the judge WILL rule in the employees favor. After all, the rights of employees who have earned these payments, and been promised these payments by BearingPoint AND the BANKRUPTCY COURT has to take precedence over unsecured creditors. After all, we worked hard during those last months, and through the transition, because of these assurances. The secured creditors and unsecured creditors, as well as PWC and Deloitte was well aware of this commitment, and only chose to complain after the fact. Each of you out there should continue to write the judge to document the personal hardships you have endured during this transition, and what the loss of these earned wages will do to you. After all, you were forced to resign, or were terminated against your will, but were promised that moneys due would be paid. To not do so would be a travesty of justice, and as John points out above, this act would send a message to every employee in every company that would be going chapter 11, that even though they want you to keep working so that the acquiring companies get some value, what is the point if you can take your PTO to give you the time to look for new employmente on your own terms?

This Washington Post article makes me wonder if they’ll be any money left to pay out PTO and Severances.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/19/AR2009061903334_2.html

From a May 21st blog site:

Say a Little Prayer… then Email it

Prayer takes various shapes and forms. Yesterday was my first exposure to prayer via email. It’s no surprise that as BearingPoint collapses in on itself, so too does the general morale of the remaining workforce. One of the last men standing took it upon himself/herself to summon the company to prayer yesterday afternoon as the bankruptcy court determined the fate of employee severance packages. In an email to all emplyees he wrote;

“We have an hour to focus only on what we want, not what we don’t, so I urge you to pray with me:
God, please shed light, clarity and love on the courts, judges, lawyers, and especially the creditors that they see how important the BearingPoint team is and how deserving they are of the severance and PTO that is coming to them. May all BearingPoint employees receive their severance and PTO.”

Yesterday the court ruled in favor of employee’s receiving severance according to company policy, but determined that PTO needs to be considered further and should not be paid out at this time. What we can conclude from this chain of events is that God was in fact in the courtroom yesterday, and while we can thank Him for protecting our severance, we have to assume that He may have sat back while the court was in debate over employee PTO. To be fair, God doesn’t get to take vacation days, so why should we?

(The email prayer was recalled a few hours after it was sent)

The previous two comments seem very pessimistic concerning PTO. It seems the Washingpost is only getting the creditors’ comments and not the employees’ in that article. Our voices need to be heard also.

A twist that some may not have thought about. I would have donated my 200+ hours to others in need rather then seem them end up with short or negative pay. Under the original agrrements befor bankruptcy we were allowed to donate leave to those in need.

Folks -

Take a look at the Case site, and you will see that all of the letters that are being mailed to the judge are being posted…. Our voices are being heard. The only problem, is that with 15000 employees being affected by the potential loss of PTO, there are only nine letters posted. If you want your voice heard, send your letters in today… not tomorrow, today!!

http://www.bearingpointinfo.com/site%20files/maincase.php3

This is terrific!!! we are being heard. This gives me hope.

Where is the link using which I can send a letter to the Judge ?

Seriously, is there anyway to find the judge’s email address? It would be easier to email letters than mail them and it would provide a more efficient way for the GCG to post thousands (yes, i’m being hopeful) of the letters to the case site (BearingPointinfo.com)and enter into the docket.

You may only mail letters… NO EMAIL address is available. Here is the address again… get those letters in the mail today! You have just six days for the judge to receive your thoughts on this matter.

Judge Robert E. Gerber
United States Bankruptcy Court
One Bowling Green
New York, NY 10004-1408

You can email the court. I’ve pasted 3 times the email addresses. Why aren’t you posting them?

Has you successfully emailed the court and have you received a response and have those letters been posted on the docket? If so, please post the email address.. Looks like the written letters are being posted, so regardless, make your voices heard and whether you email or ground mail, your letters need to be sent to the court right away so that they will be posted and read by the judge.

I am hoping that each of you will stress that the court promised the PTO in their original wage order; that you did not use your PTO and worked for your clients as part of the ruling to maximize the value of the company bankruptcy auctions to the bidding companies as you expected to be paid for that PTO based on the court ruling; that the purchasing companies based their purchase prices of the company business on the fact that BearingPoint would be paying this PTO; and that you will be under great personal hardship if the courts wage order ruling is reversed after the fact.

If someone has the email address to Judge Gerber then please send the email address to the US BE All Personnel distribution list (in Deloitte outlook).

I called the bankruptcy court and asked if there was an email address and the courtroom deputy said “no, you need to mail a letter addressed to Chambers” and they will enter it into the docket.

I left just in time, got my 374 hours paid out and the end of last year. I am now glad I was not loyal, I gave 6 years of my life to BE and hardly took any vacation, as is evidenced by my PTO balance. Sorry to hear so many did not recognize what was going on, the writing was on the wall for years.

Well, our good friends at Bingham can email their letters. I mailed mine today!

“I left just in time, got my 374 hours paid out and the end of last year. I am now glad I was not loyal, I gave 6 years of my life to BE and hardly took any vacation, as is evidenced by my PTO balance. Sorry to hear so many did not recognize what was going on, the writing was on the wall for years.”

Why are you here? Did you just come to gloat?

I was hired directly into a project. I never had a day of bench time. Was actually over 100% utilization most months.

My guess is that BE knew the motion to suppress PTO was coming. They kept it quiet.

Thanks,

Now Deloitte folks,
Not that we need another hit on top of potentially losing PTO, but everyone who transitioned to Deloitte will be losing about 1% of your 2009 annual salary due to the difference in pay distribution scheduling. Add that to the more expensive health insurance, loss of mass transit subsidy, and other little perks, and we can continue to take hits in the groin.

Merrill Lynch froze the Retirement Preservation Trust fund.
“Merrill Lynch and BearingPoint are in discussions regarding resolution to this matter and we expect to provide clarity regarding withdrawals from RPT in the near future”

Please folks just don’t just address Deloitte employees, I am a laid off BE employee who has NOT received her PTO and I could really use it now. I have been Screwed by BE management one too many times now. And this is just rubbing salt on the wound. I have mailed my letter to Judge also yesterday. If you have an email address please post it here. Thank you.

laidoffBE…I certainly agree….Letters should address all former BE employees – those at Deloitte, those scheduled to go to PWC, those that are stuck at BE waiting to be terminated, and those that have already have the misfortune to have been laid off…. We need to feel everyone’s pain and express our frustration and outrage for everyone that has been hit by this travesty of justice.

BE will be Chapter 7 by July 14 http://www.bearingpointinfo.com

I didn’t see where they were going chapter7 on July 14? Where can I find this? Once they go chapter 7 we are out of luck. I hope the Judge will make his decision this monday in our favor and not delay it any longer. Hope everyone got their letters and email in. We need to stress the urgency of BE going chapter 7 soon to the Judge. I have already mailed my letter. Thanks all!

When the board and the CEO announced they were going to sell it bread and butter (Public Services) and (Commercial Services) it truly felt like when Judas gave up Jesus to the soldiers.

When they announced they will honor all pays/benefits/PTO/and Severance packages so the transition would be smooth. It was a bittersweet gesture because we were under the impression that a large % of employee would be given an opportunity to work at DT and PwC and Keane.

A lot of employees remain with BearingPoint because they were given false impressions that DT/PwC would interview us.

The selection process was very unfair (speaking on the Support end only)

It turns out of a corporation of 17,000 employees only close to 5,000 former BP employees were offer a job.

That a huge slap in the face in my opinion because barely 30% was offered a position with the acquiring companies.

A very small % from Field and Operations Support Center were given a job. Yet there was no said in on whom were allow a chance to join a new group on the local level. It seems that upper management doesn’t appreciate what the FOSC’s team has done on a skeleton crew.

A lot of problems that FOSC are facing aren’t FOSC’s fault it is upper management’s fault! Most of the problems deal with current/former employees not being paid even if their receipts were checked in.

This is because all the A/R $ is going to DT, PwC and Keane.

As a result of this arrangement, FOSC’s is stuck in a waiting game to get paid.

Whatever money we have in our reserve is for BP’s active employees. It is a juggling act for the A/P department to decide who gets paid and delaying payments.

As of July 1st, all past and current employees will be stuck to deal with the helpdesk because all email inquires will cease and desist (in other words first you can’t call us because they removed the # from outlook, then you soon you can’t email us because the mailbox will be made inoperational) Nobody but the FOSC team know how to resolve with customer service issues as good as we do in Atlanta!

The RIF’s process is a joke –how are you going to lay off people from a location that is the backbone of the entire BearingPoint’s North American and Canada and international operations?

If I was given a choice between Severance and PTO – I would take the Severance Package in a lump sum.

It is not fair that prior to the previous court ruling that a lot of former employees receive their termination date and a severance pay and PTO paid out in a lump sum and the ones that couldn’t leave due to obligation to the company.

FOSC is a cost center and yet we get punished for all the wonderful work we thrive to do on a daily basis.

Good luck to DT and PwC dealing with customer service – imo Upper Management and the Board sold us out for chump change and only care about themselves.

I said this based on this -

• How is that BearingPoint sell it Public services accounts to DT for $350 million yet they knew they have a cushy fat contract with Dept of Navy for 5 years worth $2 billion dollars? Last time I’ve checked, a billion is worth a million. DT made off like bandits!

• DT should paid BearingPoint’s Severance and PTO packages from that money and writes it off as an one time lost.

• The CEO of BearingPoint was not straightforward with us. He misleads the entire BearingPoint’s organization. I wouldn’t be surprised if he get suit in a civil court of law.

• I wonder why BearingPoint have to pay the CEO for his properties in Miami and New York City? Must be nice to be the CEO and receive big checks three times a month.

• How is the Chairman of the board receive a six figure check every month (he the guy whose signature is on all BearingPoint’s employees/AP checks) and he never is visible nor haven’t said anything via an internal notice.

• Upper Management have some freaking nerves to ask for a bonus payout – I glad the Judge deny that because you only get a bonus when the company shows a profit.

• The problem with BearingPoint it lacked internal controls over it consultants’ spending – you be amazed at the fact how much money these consultant spend (stays in five stars hotels and per diem and airfare) that adds up!

• Heck the only people that have given us thanks are grateful former employees whom we try to resolve any open issues (mostly outstanding American Express’ bills)

Greed and bad Upper Management destroy BearingPoint.

If they did it all over again – they should have hire Meg Whitman (former eBay CEO)

In closing I am sending my letter to the Judge- the reason there is only 9 letters is because people are scared of repercussions from their bosses/HR.

Good luck and let this be a lesson – a long time career with a company is a thing of the past. Look after yourself and never depend on a corporation to allow you to live the American dream.

If the company goes Chapter 7 (which is likely) where are BearingPoint going to get the money from since they sold all their assets away?

It isn’t not like BP is actively seeking new contracts to replace the old contracts.

Nobody these days wouldn’t desire to do business with a company that is sinking faster than the Titanic!

Rule of thumb in a chapter 7 situation- (which is in a nutshell the equalivent of nuking your company and flipping the birds to everyone) the creditors get nada and the employees get nada and the lawyers get richer and the CEO and Upper Management get paid first before they file it (they will call Payroll to cut a check because they the decision makers – abuse of power- yes indeed but it is a legal loophole)

If the company goes chapter 7 – it will be total anarchy!

All the records that are not going to be processed by us – DT and PwC and Keane will need to come in here and duke it out – unless the 3 of them work out an in-house agreement with the current cost center in Atlanta team to service the records (they should give the cost center that is based in Atlanta a 2 year contract) and allow for an easier and smooth transition from Point A to Point B, and C.

In the worst case scenario – whatever is left need to be handle by a 3rd party for legal reasons (I think you have to hold records for up to 7 years prior to being destroy)

In the event of a chapter 7 and the Severance and PTO aren’t paid out -it will be truly a sad day- then I truly hope the judge will sign an court order to have all of BearingPoint’s bank accounts seized and appointed a third party trustee whom will paid the BE’s employees (those who rode out the transition period) their $ due to them and that the upper management and the 4 people boards and CEO will have to wait for their last check till everyone get paid and they get whatever scraps is left at the end.

So if you have PTO and you are active – use them now!

Because the matter of PTO been bouncing around like a ping pong match!

To all the former and soon to be former employees of BearingPoint

Check your contracts to see if you have a non-compete clause.

If you don’t we need to band together and start a new consulting firm.

We need to create a great team that will not abuse the $ like the soon to be former UPPER MANAGEMENT team did and not sell us out for pennies on the dollars.

We need a great team that will share the wealth (every company have an exit strategy) imagine us in 10 years selling the company for billions of dollars and everyone who is a shareholder get a piece of the pie and can retire and live a long stress free life!

Someone needs to create a group on facebook and lead. I am not in the position to do it because I was more of a behind the scene guy and I like supporting my consultants and sales executives on a daily basis.

When life hands you lemons you make lemonade out of it!

Please note and check it out… 8 new letters have been received by the courts and posted at dockets. Hopefully more will be posted today and tomorrow. Your letters are being posted and hopefully your objections to the loss of PTO will be heard. thanks to everyone that has taken the time to do this on behalf of all BearingPoint employees.
http://www.bearingpointinfo.com/site%20files/maincase.php3

Perhaps someone should copy and paste this entire thread into an MS Word document and mail it in to the judge? This way, he’ll see all of our comments to date? Thoughts?

Well, on second thought, I’ve read through some of the posts again, perhaps some editing would be necessary.

That sounds good to me sending the judge our comments at this site. We all need to be heard. I didn’t see my letter posted. I mailed mine, not FEDexed it. I hope he gets it soon! I hope the judge feels our pain. I was reading also some of the objections to our PTO payout at the website. I didn’t understand the legal term they used for opposing our PTO. I hope our voices will be stronger then legal words.

The Deloitte Employee Group, represented by Ray Winn, Robin Lineberger, and others, previously from our BearingPoint senior management team are fighting hard for our PTO rights, and each of us owes them thanks for continuing the legal fight on the employees behalf. Be sure to read this objection motion just filed by them.

http://www.bearingpointinfo.com/site%20files/957_10691.pdf

Do we have an advocate in A. Perez? Can we email him and have him print/submit on our behalf?

Also, I posted some updated in the second blog post (a blog with only two posts; ha), namely the list of firms that are the Committee of Unsecured Creditors. Maybe letting them or their employees know about this would help them rethink their objections.

re: “The Deloitte Employee Group”…

let’s not forget that they have PTO on the line too, it’s not completely altruistic. One of the attachments (I can’t remember the docket number now) shows that the highest single PTO payout is $97,000 — I’m guessing that’s Mr. Lineberger himself (although it said it was at the MD level, there was no category for Execs). One Sr. Mgr has something like $53,000 on the line…

This gives me little comfort, but it makes my $7500 seem reasonable.

I’m mad as hell now, and I’m blogging about it:
http://st4rbux.wordpress.com/2009/06/26/att-hands-off-my-earned-leave

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

The Deloitte Employee group are fighting for PTO, but not for people who are still in BE or laid off employees. If you read the docket clearly they mention that people who are employed can still take their PTO and hence it is fair game for them. Make no mistake, currently hired or laid off people without PTO are on their own.
Their argument is that they fetched the most money and should be compensated first which I agree. However they were not alone, they were supported by Corporate Services and even employees who were out of luck, i.e when the axe hit they were on the beach. Seriously, since when did Robin started to care about others. Is he giving his 97K to others?

I read your blog st4rbux… nice job and very well written…. did you write a letter to the judge? Frankly, only BearingPoint, employee groups that are organized and represented by legal counsel, and individuals that write letters to the judge will be heard. Are the employees from FS and CS going to PWC represented?

It is important to note that BearingPoint has apparently turned its back on all BearingPoint employees, and has indicated its willingness to settle and give a $10M gift to creditors, another $10M to the “committee” and still give bonuses for the senior leadership, while leavng the Bearingpoint employees who are owned their PTO to fight for scraps with the unsecured creditors. In otherwords, the BearingPoint leadership is trying to line their own pockets and throwing the BearingPont employees under the bus. In addition to the Deloitte Employee Group, Deloitte itself is fighting for us. See the most recent docket:

http://www.bearingpointinfo.com/site%20files/962_10691.pdf

Is PWC and the other purchasers doing anything for us? What about the current BearingPoint employees that will be left with nothing? Are you filing letters or organized legally in any way?

It seems the The Deloitte employee group only cares for it’s people and BE managers only care about themselves first. There seems to be alot of greed going around…..isn’t this what got America in financial trouble in the first place? This PTO is effecting everybody….. and it should be addressed that way! Come on PEOPLE wakeup! We have been saying this all through this blog. Is NOBODY listening!

Two cents from a laid off BE employee with No PTO and severage.

Someone wrote in this blog that people living/working in CA have been paid PTO already – THAT IS NOT TRUE! I have heard some people are paid, but I am ex-BE and now Deloitte, working and living in CA and I can tell you that I and others I know of have NOT been paid. When we checked, we were told that Federal ruling override state laws. Anyone has any insight on this?

Today is the day (6/29)… the hearing is first thing this morning… we should know more tonight.

Folks, if any of you hear what happens at the hearing this morning, please post your notes…

Anyone heard a ruling yet?

My understanding is that the judge approved the “settlement” proposed by the creditors but refused to vacate his previous Day 1 ruling that PTO be paid to employees moving to Deloitte. Not sure what that means exactly but I think it will require the creditors and BE to renegoitate the PTO payments in another venue.

I think that means the judge lacked the backbone to make the right decision. MY PTO is non-negotiable!

so basically, nothing was accomplished in court today. If the “settlement” was approved, that would mean an actual court mandated decision was made on PTO. It was not. This is absolutely ridiculous

Sounds to me like BE is just biding its time before it says “we’re all out of money”. No doubt the Executives at BE will still walk with all of their bonuses. One final flipping of the bird from BearingPoint to us on the way out. Don’t let it hit you on the way out. Thanks Ed, hope you’re still enjoying your 10,000 a month apartment in NYC. You’ve done a stellar job for us and your bonuses are so hard earned.

Well per the CEO of BearingPoint – the court informed BearingPoint/Creditors that EE must be paid the severance packages upon leaving the company but the CEO in a memo to the current team on the payroll that PTO will not be paid – so I am guessing if you leave the company and have PTO in your account – you will not be reimbursed so everyone is struggling to find out if the PTO can be used prior to leaving because it unclear at this point.

June 29, 2009

To all Employees in the United States and Former Employees at PwC, Deloitte and other Acquiring Entities:

I am writing to update you about BearingPoint’s severance and paid time off (PTO) programs for employees and MDs who leave, or who recently left, the business.

As you will recall, last month a group of our creditors asked the Court to reverse its prior approval of the company’s continued payment of severance and PTO. We objected to any reduction in the amount of employee claims for both severance and PTO, as we continue to believe that these payments are fair, proper and in the best interests of all parties. This continues to be our position.

Today, there was a hearing held to approve our use of cash collateral and finalize our ability to pay severance and PTO. The Court recommended that the parties continue to negotiate the various issues outstanding in the case, including PTO and others, and indicated that a formal ruling would be issued shortly in the absence of a negotiated resolution. The Court’s prior guidance regarding severance and PTO remains in effect, meaning that we continue to be able to pay severance in regular payroll fashion when an employee leaves the business. We may not, however, pay PTO at this time.

As soon as there are further developments, I will update you immediately.

Ed

use your PTO. It will not be paid.

I personally believe the creditors will draw this out as long as they can before dropping the hammer. They want the transitions to complete and will end up telling everyone “Sorry no PTO” in the end.

The judge should not let this be drawn out any longer. This is absolutely crazy. Some people may actually be depending on that money. Unfortunately I believe you ar e right, no PTO in the end.

“One final flipping of the bird from BearingPoint to us on the way out.”

Hey, at BE, we got so good at screwing others, why be surprised when we end up being the targets ourselves? It might be the only thing BE was ever consistent with.

Why are we letting these monkeys defend what is rightfully ours! BE has no real interest in fighting for our PTO. All US based employees should hire a firm to represent the group and fight for our PTO. Should they win I’d give up 15% of my PTO to pay them! As a group that would be quite a large payout for the winning firm.

Lawyers would take 50% for a class action. However, that is better than nothing. Also, Deloitte has hired a law firm to represent us.

TAKE YOUR PTO, USE IT, look at other chapter#11 cases in the past, no vacation ever paid once creditors objects

How are we going to use our PTO when we’re no longer in the company??? I agree with the above statement that we should get together and hire an attorney.

Does anyone have Ed Harboroh’s email address, I would like to send him a email. This thing is getting rediculus. I want to laugh but it hurts. Thanks in advance.

His email is just how you have it…

firstname.lastname@bearingpoint.com

Expect name Ed Harbach

Thanks! I wounder if he’ll even read my email.

There seems to be no justice or relief.

Why would the judge ask the parties to keep negotiating when it is SO OBVIOUS that the parties clearly aren’t on the same page with the PTO and severance issues. According to our buddy Ed, the judge said “a formal ruling would be issued shortly in the absence of a negotiated resolution”. Well, why couldn’t he elaborate on how long “shortly” is? Why couldn’t he give a deadline? What if BE goes into Chapter 7 during this period?!?!?!?!?!?!? This is an outrage!?!?!?!

Why would the judge ask them to negotiate? My understanding was he was to make a ruling June, 29th on PTO? I don’t understand how they can negociate with our PTO? PTO was never negociable. We were promised by all parties that we would receive our PTO.

Perhaps the creditors got the judge on their side? The grass was greener on the other side in this case

Write those letters! Now!! until the judge rules, every letter counts. Bernie Madoff got 150 years, and one of the reasons given as to why he got the max sentence is the court received hundreds of letters from bilked investors, and no letters that were positive towards Madoff!! your letters count!! If you are on this blog and have not written, shame on you!! Get those letters in!! The address is reprinted multiple times above!!

I have written my letter a week ago and shows it was posted in the docket. I hope it does count!

What are we paying for exactly? These people are still on the payroll! 790/hr give me a break! OJ’s attorney’s didn’t cost that much.

http://www.bearingpointinfo.com/site%20files/994_10691.pdf

“Why would the judge ask the parties to keep negotiating when it is SO OBVIOUS that the parties clearly aren’t on the same page with the PTO and severance issues.”

I’m not so sure there is a huge difference; I can’t remember what all the PTO was worth, but $16M sounds familiar. I can’t see BearingPoint’s incentive to fight for PTO any longer, so it would be easy for them to say, “forget the PTO and pay out the KEIP (exec bonuses, a few million), and we’ll call it even”. To me, that’s what the latest non-response from the Creditors to the Proposal sounded like: “OK, we’ll pay this and that, but not PTO”.

And Deloitte objects because they’ll have 4000 pissed off employees, and will very likely have to pay to keep their people happy (or more likely make an upfront deposit of equal hours into employee’s PTO bucket at Deloitte; still costly).

The bucket for PTO is around 52 mill for public services

For those people that are no longer with the company, you should take this PTO matter to your local or national radio or newspaper, contact your local NPR stattion and send them this URL link, we need to rise our voice

That’s the best advice I heard so far! Now you’re thinking. We have to make a move, we need to get the media involved to see all the coruption that’s going on and how the little person gets screwed as usual, those people who literally don’t have the money to fight back in the courts.

Great idea, now who has the guts to do it is the real question!

I will, does anyone courageously want to join me? I am looking for heroes and heroines…let me know asap. Suggestions are also appreciated.

laidoffBE and Anonymous:

I am 100% ready to join. What next?

I suggest we contact Glenn Beck. He has several email contacts on his website. Any suggestions on how we get together to write an email to him expressing our frustrations and all of the coruption?

I would email him the link to this site, the docket site, and state your reasonings why you feel it is important that our case becomes something he has interest in following. Sean Hannity as well.

Wow! Some people with backbones. I love those kind of people! Let’s make some noise! I live in the Springfiled, VA area but I am flexiable about where to meet. We can meet at a starbucks and come up with a game plan. I am tried of being a victim or carpet any longer. Some great ideas are already mentioned above, we can brainstorm others when we meet. Lets follow through, we have to move fast!!! More suggestions are also welcome!!! What about you, WhereBEmyPTO? you in, do you have guts?

If we can’t meet, we can make suggestions and follow through on some of the suggestions and report back here. I am in the process of contacting my local congressman.

I’m former BE now DTT, but I’m definitely down with making some noise. Lets contact Congressmen, the media, whoever. I live near Springfield too, but online works just as well. I’m going to check out the 2 sites listed above.
In the words of Arsenio, Let’s Get Busy!

Based on my count, the court has only received about 35 letters from impacted employees… that is not many considering the size of the employee population affected by this PTO travesty…. Please get the word out to all employees – write the judge!! You still have time to have your voices heard!

Hey, great Anomymous, lets meet in Springfield, va. Let me know when’s a good day/time to meet. This will be great for some moral support, more heads are better than one. Other than letters we need to make more of an impact. Please if you do one thing, write the Judge atleast. As expected Ed our defunct CEO did NOT reply to my email that I sent him. Hopefully he read it at least.

I can meet tomorrow afternoon or Sunday in Springfield and perhaps others can join us. Let me know.

Pick a time and place and broadcast it to all of Bearingpoint’s email addresses for anyone still in BearingPoint that can send it… you might find that a lot of us will join you and then we can plan the next steps.

Docket # 691 is particularly appealing, as it is from a BearingPoint California employee who also has not received her PTO and cites this as a violation of state law. My compliments to Akshara Naik for writing a very compelling letter to the court.

http://www.bearingpointinfo.com/site%20files/985_10691.pdf

Wow, that was a powerful letter, that sums up just about our blog except not all us live in CA, but she makes a case for everyone not just employees at Deloitte or Ca. How does Friday afternoon at 4pm at starbucks on Frontier Dr. sound? Shout! Shout! let it all out! Lets show BE management we count!

I heard that Federal law over ruled state law as per a previous blogger.

I’ll be there tomorrow 4pm. It’s also posted on this site:

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/BE_PTO/

Thanks all. It’s outrageous how they can hold our pay(money) without just cause and maybe give it away, what’s next? Let them in my house and take anything they want and leave. I didn’t think we lived in Russia, I thought this was the USA. Your property is yours.

It is absolutely a travesty of injustice. It motivates me even more. Glad we’re organizing tomorrow.

NC Labor Laws are quite clear about our PTO belonging to us:

Once a promise is made by an employer, then the employer must pay all promised wages, including wage benefits, accruing to its employees based on any policy, agreement or practice that the employer has established. And pursuant to N.C.G.S. 95-25.13(2) of the WHA, the employer must: “Make available to its employees, in writing or through a posted notice maintained in a place accessible to its employees, employment practices and policies with regard to promised wages.” And an employer must comply with its own wage payment agreements until such time as the employer changes its policy in writing in compliance with N.C.G.S. 95-25.13(3) of the WHA. Such reductions to earned wages, including earned wage benefits, cannot be made retroactive. In other words, the notification of the reduction in promised wages cannot take away pay or wage benefits that have already been earned up to the date of the notification. Any reduction in pay or wage benefits must be prospective from the date of notification. Please review on-line our fact sheet on Changes/Reduction in Wages for more information.

Earned vacation pay, commissions, and bonuses cannot be forfeited unless the employer has a written forfeiture clause in its vacation, commission, or bonus policy or termination policy pursuant to N.C.G.S. 95-25.13(2) of the WHA. Keep in mind that vacation pay, commissions, or bonuses have to be earned, regardless if a verbal promise or a written policy, before an employer has to pay them at all. Also, even if there is a written policy that has a written forfeiture clause, an employee may still be due the earned vacation pay, commissions, or bonuses at termination. It all depends on the language of the forfeiture clause and the reason/s the employee’s employment was discontinued, and if the reason/s meet the criteria in the written forfeiture clause. Please note that the North Carolina Department of Labor (NCDOL) takes the position that sick leave does not have to be paid at termination even if there is no written forfeiture clause unless the policy actually states that sick leave will be paid at termination or there is the practice of such payments.

Right, NC, you have a claim against the residual estate of BE, you and the rest of the unsecured bond holders ($1B), etc. So you’ll get the same 2 cents on the dollar.

You got bupkis against Deloitte.

NC, the State of MD Appeals held that even with a written notice, PTO must still be paid out. Just an FYI.

Thanks to everyone who came out! These are some of the great ideas and present action items the group is working on.
*denotes tasker is being worked with further information on this tasker forthcoming:

-Media Blitz – Contact the Media: Washington Post, WSJ, NYT, etc

-Call Congress – Phone your representatives (quicker than email)

-Write letters to the bankruptcy Judge

-*Researching information on a “bankruptcy trustee”

-*Contact anti-corporate greed blog sites and other blog sites

-Email friends and family for networking and ideas

-*Reach out to others in the same position (Nortel, Washington Hotel, GM employees)

-*Contact advocacy groups

-*Attend our next meeting – tbd

That was an exciting meeting last friday. I was glad to see those people that made it. As per friday’s meeting is there a generic letter we can send to out to the media?

This is a superb response. And I second writing those letters to the judge. I have sent in several, and they have all been posted… and remember, once posted on the bearingpoint case website as a docket, the creditors get to read our letters in addition to the judge…. keep them going in, and if you have more to say to the court, the creditors, and BearingPoint, write another letter!

Also, if this can get some publicity on the DC media with the names of the creditors that are complaining, then perhaps the embarrasement of these large companies trying to steal from the BearingPoint employees families will cause them to back down, plus cause additional embarrasement to the BearingPoint execs from giving in on our interests in favor of those big bonuses for themselves.

Suggest that we set up a Thread that acts as a petition that we can all sign. We’d most likely get more “signatures” on a thread. We can send daily updates to the court of all signatures. Who has a good statement that summarizes our complaint that can start off the thread? Once posted, please forward the link to all BE employees in your address book.

Hi. I like the way you write. Will you post some more articles?

The judge is supposed to make his ruling “soon”. Anyone know what “soon” is?

Is there a generic letter to send out?

I guess no decision has been made yet?

If we do not get our PTO can we at least claim the loss for taxes?

It does not look good…more letters to the court and more mediA coverage can help.

Does anyone know Obama or someone in the Whitehouse?

I wonder if we can claim PTO as a theft/loss on our taxes?

When a company files for Chapter 11, employees have a little more wiggle room. Companies generally don’t file Chapter 11 unless they have at least enough funds to consider staying in business. The bank is the first to get paid, but employees have a priority claim on up to $4,300 in back and vacation pay which, they must receive within 90 days of the filing. Of course, if they’re owed more than that, they have to stand in line behind the rest of creditors to get it. Those claims, and the monetary claims made by freelancers, often fall so far down on the list of entities to get paid that the money may run out first.

Here is the URL source
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2001/05/17/layoffs.DTL

We had better get more than $4300 per person out of this or there are going to be thousands of very angy former employees.

Check Your PTO Balances if you are legacy BE employed by Deloitte or elsewhere:

My PTO balance on deloitte.net is showing as if I took 8 hours of PTO on 25 May 09. Not only was that particular day a federal holiday recognized by both Deloitte and BearingPoint but also up to that point we were still entering time on TimenX instead of using the DTE.

It appears that I was not the only one affected…a lot of legacy BE folks in my engagement found the same error in their PTO totals. We called 1-800-deloitte and they said that they have already received several complaints and are working to solve the problem. I would recommend you look at your PTO totals and see if you were affected as well.

My response emailed:
You contacted the CallCenter because your PTO/HOL time is incorrect in DTE. This is a know issue for former Bearing Point employees due to the way data was sent over. This will be resolved by script. When this is resolved this incident will be marked complete.

I know someone who worked for BearingPoint, who probably is owed PTO, who “knew” the junior senator from Illinois and his inner circle… but I don’t think that kind of connection is going to get a bankruptcy judge to change his mind. Even if someone had a favor to call in, this is not a big enough deal to waste that kind of political capital.

Doesn’t anyone think it is a coincidence that the day before BP was to pay out the PTO the “injunction” happened? I am not saying it was thought out but certainly a coincidence. The other part is. How many people so far have actually found out who the creditors are? How do they get to be anonymous in this situation?

Based on the wealth of information that has been provided to the ex employees, BP and the creditors haven’t negotiated on this. I personally don’t think they intended to. Instead they will wait for the judge to make his ruling “soon” and on the 11th hour again file for chapter 7.

st4rbux – if this former bearingpoint employee can get a US senator to make a phone call or letter to the judge it certainly cannot hurt, and might possibly help our cause…. please encourage him/her to do so..

I concur.

joke: I thought I posted the list of creditors; maybe the comment was deleted. the “Committee of Unsecured Creditors” is in the court docket (http://bearingpointinfo.com/site%20files/61_10691.pdf) and I dumped the list in the first comment of my blog post here: http://st4rbux.wordpress.com/2009/06/26/att-hands-off-my-earned-leave/#comments

(not trying to redirect too much traffic, but he/she asked…)

and I’ll email that former employee…

ugh. spin, spin, spin:

“Robin Lineberger: BearingPoint to Deloitte “seamless” transition” — http://blog.executivebiz.com/robin-lineberger-bearingpoint-to-deloitte-seamless-transition/3100

sure, if losing $52M worth of employee PTO is your definition of “seamless”… I always HATED the term ’seamless’; it was like a bullshit detector for me.

I just left a comment on the story….read it!!! I suggest you do the same….it’s a bunch of BS!!!!

News on July 25, 2009 from an email by Ed Harbach:

To All U.S. Employees and Those Who Recently Left the Business:

I’m writing with important updates on our business transition. First and foremost, I’m pleased to report that we have received a positive ruling from the Court regarding payment of severance and Paid Time Off (PTO) for employees and MDs who leave, or who recently left, the business.

As you’ll recall, a group of our creditors had asked the Court to reverse its prior approval of the company’s continued payment of severance and PTO. We’re pleased that we have reached an agreement with our creditors and received Court approval to use our cash collateral for these employee programs, with some conditions. Here’s what this means for our people.

First, our severance policy remains in full effect and will continue to be deemed an “administrative” claim. This is important because administrative claims are paid as they come due and, therefore, in many instances are paid before other creditors. As the Court directed in May, we will continue to make payments in regular increments during an employee’s severance period, consistent with our normal payroll cycle, rather than in a lump-sum payment.

Second, we also can pay employees who leave the business for their unused, accrued Paid Time Off. Specifically, we have been authorized to make payments up to $4 million per month with the anticipation that all PTO amounts due to employees will be paid in full by no later than December 31, 2009. These payments are contingent upon closing remaining asset sales, such as the sale of our EMEA practice. The exact formula for payouts will be communicated within the next several days

To All U.S. Employees and Those Who Recently Left the Business:

I’m writing with important updates on our business transition. First and foremost, I’m pleased to report that we have received a positive ruling from the Court regarding payment of severance and Paid Time Off (PTO) for employees and MDs who leave, or who recently left, the business.

As you’ll recall, a group of our creditors had asked the Court to reverse its prior approval of the company’s continued payment of severance and PTO. We’re pleased that we have reached an agreement with our creditors and received Court approval to use our cash collateral for these employee programs, with some conditions. Here’s what this means for our people.

First, our severance policy remains in full effect and will continue to be deemed an “administrative” claim. This is important because administrative claims are paid as they come due and, therefore, in many instances are paid before other creditors. As the Court directed in May, we will continue to make payments in regular increments during an employee’s severance period, consistent with our normal payroll cycle, rather than in a lump-sum payment.

Second, we also can pay employees who leave the business for their unused, accrued Paid Time Off. Specifically, we have been authorized to make payments up to $4 million per month with the anticipation that all PTO amounts due to employees will be paid in full by no later than December 31, 2009. These payments are contingent upon closing remaining asset sales, such as the sale of our EMEA practice. The exact formula for payouts will be communicated within the next several days.

Transition Update

We continue to make significant progress on the final elements of our business transition. In EMEA, we’ve reached a definitive agreement with our European management team for the sale of that practice. Our EMEA unit will become a legally independent entity and operate as a private partnership owned by the leaders in Europe. Peter Mockler and his management team will remain in place, providing leadership stability and continuity to aid in a successful transition. The team also plans to continue using the BearingPoint brand. Our goal is to complete the transaction, which is subject to Court approval and various closing conditions, by the end of August.

In North America, we have already closed sales to Deloitte, PwC, Keane, CMA and other parties. We’re in the final stages of completing the sale of the small number of remaining client contracts. Our goal is to complete these deals in the next several weeks. At that point, a limited number of employees in North America will be engaged in final wind-down activities and supporting Transition Services Agreements with the acquiring companies. While we have not been able to find positions for every employee, I’m pleased that we have been able to place the vast majority of our employees in acquiring companies, especially in today’s challenging job environment.

In Latin America, we’ve reached an agreement to sell our Brazil practice to CSC; that transaction is expected to be completed by July 31, subject to customary closing conditions. We continue to discuss terms for a potential management buyout for the remaining portion of our Latin American operations. In APAC, we are in due diligence with various parties for potential acquisitions or management buyouts.

Finally, I’d like to thank all of you, once again, for your patience and dedication as we have proceeded through this process. Through it all, you have not lost your passion for serving clients, which is the legacy by which I hope BearingPoint will always be remembered.

Ed

Everyone, I have questions. I read this from Ed this morning and while it’s positive, it is hardly conclusive. First of all, there are all sorts of contingencies before final payment reaches us individually. Secondly, it says 4 mil a month up to dec will cover all payments, that implies that PTO owed to employees total about 20 mil. I thought I read a post here some time back that estimated owed PTO to be more than 50 mil?

My question is how can we find out what is the criteria of decision on WHO THEY ARE PAYING FIRST? base dont he above, I am not sure that everyone will eventually be paid, so I’d be interested to know who gets paid first…let’s not be complacent and the executives once again get paid while the rest of us keep waiting until the money runs out.

Please post your thoughts.

This was sent to ex-BE Deloitte employees from Ray Winn, partner representing the interest of ex-BE employees:

We achieved a significant milestone yesterday regarding our objection to the motion filed by BearingPoint’s unsecured creditors committee to vacate the Judge’s prior wage and benefits order. As part of an agreed cash collateral stipulation that was signed by the Judge this morning, the motion to vacate was withdrawn and all BearingPoint Paid Time Off (PTO) will be treated as an administrative claim (i.e., paid before pre-petition claims) and paid on an agreed upon schedule until the secured lenders are fully paid off and additional cash is collected by BearingPoint through various asset sales and other transactions.

This is a significant achievement in that we won the court battle.

Based on statements made during the proceedings, BearingPoint estimates that its total PTO liability is almost $40 million (for current and former employees). The senior lenders have agreed that BearingPoint may begin to pay out PTO at a rate of $4 million per month (roughly 10%). BearingPoint indicated that it will have adequate resources to pay PTO in full by the end of the year (i.e., almost half paid in December) assuming the successful completion of its previously announced asset sales. If the senior lenders are paid in full and there is adequate cash available, BearingPoint can accelerate the schedule. Having just reached this settlement yesterday, BearingPoint now has to develop the actual partial payment methodology, but some partial PTO payments should be occurring in the next few weeks.

Of course, there is still some risk involved because BearingPoint is in the wind down phase of a bankruptcy. Remaining business unit sales have to close and other asset sale activities have to be completed in order for the PTO claims to be paid in full. Currently, BearingPoint has publicly announced asset sales that indicate that there will be adequate cash to make the payments if the sales close as expected.

This is a great resolution. We could not have done this without the full support of Deloitte leadership and the outstanding support of Deloitte’s Office of General Counsel. We are not all the way there yet, but we are in a much better place today than we were yesterday. You should be receiving additional information directly from BearingPoint sometime next week on the details regarding the partial payout methodology, etc.

Basically, the language is an acknowledgement that there are a lot of moving parts and no one is exactly sure how much BearingPoint will have has been given permission to pay out PTO in increments of $4M per month. I think Ed’s email stating “that all PTO amounts due to employees will be paid in full by no later than December 31, 2009″ was borderline irresponsible. Ray’s approach was a bit more practical.

If I had to guess, everyone owed PTO will receive partial checks (5-10%) beginning in early Sepetember. This will continue until BearingPoint gets too close to its risk area of not being able to pay the actual salary of its current employees (yes, there still are some). I’d predict that everyone will receive somewhere between 20 and 50% of what is owed. As I said, just a guess on my part. 100% or 0% are both still possibilities.

Below is an excerpt from the BE_PTO yahoo group site detailing the PTO payout. To summarize, $4M per month will first be allotted to paying off anyone with $1,000 or less owed (remaining owed) on their PTO. The remaining monies will then be divided in this formula: Total Remaining of the $4M divided by/Total PTO balances owed to all remaining employee amounts. (let’s say approx $3M/35M[X]=% with the $3M; [X - unknown amount] and % amounts all changing monthly as more and more employees being owed $1,000 or less are paid off and the [X] amount being reduced as monthly payments are made and includes present employees to be laid off, receiving PTO from Jul onward). After the 5th month (Jul-Nov, since payments occur the end of the month), a lump sum payment is to be contemplated (reviewed by the courts for approval to pay out pending the Creditors and KEIP have been satisfied). The first payment will be for August and Sept. The lump sum payment amount – if everything prior goes as plan, and is approved – would be approximately the remaining 50% owed out. All monies are to be taxed. All we know for certain is individual state taxes apply and 25% Federal taxes apply. The BE_PTO Yahoo site is researching additional taxes, if any. (BTW, if you are no longer an employee of BE, keep in mind that by the time of this 1st payment, we will not have access to BE Help Desk or anything BE, only ADT, a 3rd party payroll vendor).
Here’s the Exercept:
Any deductions that would be taken would be normal medical or 401k etc. If you are have terminated all of these, then only taxes would be withheld. Federal taxes will be a rate of 25%.
As stated in the email, the PTO payout will be a prorated amount for all employees with outstanding PTO balances. The total allowable of $4 million per month will first used to pay individuals who have less than a $1,000.00 remaining PTO balance. The remaining amount per month will be divided by the total remaining PTO balance to be paid to all employees. The result is a % which will be applied to each individual’s remaining balance. This results in each individual receiving the same % payout per month. The % paid each month will vary slightly based on the total outstanding PTO balance that is owed to all employees as well as the payouts for employees with a balance less than $1,000.00.
Just as an example, if you are an employee with 200 hours and we are paying out 10% on 8/31, then your payment would be for 20 hours. Your remaining outstanding balance eligible for the 9/31 payment would then be 180 hours.
The total numbers of hours outstanding would be the amount that you had accrued but unused upon your termination/transfer from BE, minus any adjustments, which could include time taken in the last payroll cycle, proration for PTO accrual received at the beginning of the month if you left prior to the end of a month, amount due to the company for any expenses, etc. You will be able to see your final PTO balance on ADP on 8/31.
Unfortunately we cannot give you the exact payout because the % could change monthly based on the current outstanding PTO balance of all owed. In general you can expect approximately 10% per month. The actual % will be stated on your ADP check stub. We will be paying at the end of every month (8/31, 9/30, etc) with the anticipation all PTO payments will be paid in full by December 31, 2009 pending completion of the final business deals.
The courts have authorized a lump sum payment to be contemplated prior to Dec 31 to pay out full balance upon completion of the final business deals (will be reviewed prior to court approving us to make the lump sum payment ensure all business deals have been completed).

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