RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – IBM has removed one of the multiple thorny legal issues it faces by agreeing to pay $4.75 million to settle a lawsuit over its employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP.
However, Big Blue is still tangling with former employees in lawsuits alleging age discrmination and underpayment of sales commissions.
In settling Employee Retirement Income Security Act known as IBM v. Jander, IBM admitted no wrongdoing, according to the news website PlanSponsor.com.
“Par for the course, the money will be distributed by an independent administrator among the IBM ESOP participants and beneficiaries, and the court has been granted discretion to set the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees as a percentage of the final settlement,” Plan Sponsor reported.
“Central to the lawsuit were the plaintiffs’ allegations that IBM imprudently managed company stock investments in one of its retirement plans,” the news site noted.
IBM employs thousands of people across North Carolina and owns Raleigh-based Red Hat.
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