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Executive Comp Litigation - Exhaustion of Remedies

  >>> see ERISA Plansfor their special exhaustion of remedies rules.

2001  Improper Delegation of Claims Resolution Authority.  The Tenth Circuit, in considering an employee’s claim for accelerated vesting of stock options, concluded that the employer’s compensation committee, which under the plan terms had “plenary authority” to make “final and binding” decisions concerning plan interpretation, had improperly allowed a vice president of human resource to decide the employee’s claim for accelerated vesting. Mauldin v. WorldCom, Inc., 263 F.3d 1205, 26 EBC 2378 (10th Cir. 2001). The court found no evidence that the committee had properly delegated to the vice president authority to determine claims, nor had it properly ratified the vice president’s denial of the employee’s claim.