Enron Emails On 401k "Blackout" Released
Two emails that Enron sent workers concerning the "blackout period" of the company's 401k plan were released on January 15, 2002 by The Gottesdiener Law Firm which filed suit in November against Enron Corporation, top Enron officials, Arthur Andersen and other defendants in federal court in Houston to recover some $1 billion in Enron employees' retirement savings. Gottesdiener claims the emails show the Enron's "callous disregard" for its employees.
According to Enron, the blackout period was administratively necessary for the company to proceed with a desired change of the 401k Plan's trustee and recordkeeper. However, the suit filed by Gottesdiener on behalf some 15,000 current and former Enron employees disputes that any "lockdown" was necessary to change service providers. They further alleges that, even if was necessary, it should have been postponed to allow employees, who had more than 60% of their account savings in Enron stock, to sell their stock and salvage some of their investment.
The just-released e-mails, according to the Firm's principal attorney, Eli Gottesdiener, reveal two fundamental problems with the way Enron executives handled the blackout period. First, Gottesdiener said, the emails show that the Company "arrogantly dismissed the concerns of employees who had been imploring them to delay the lockdown." Second, Gottesdiener said, they also show that the Enron issued false information about the lockdown, leading many workers to believe that the lockdown began a week earlier than it did and causing them to miss the opportunity to sell their stock when it was still selling for around $30 a share.
Judge For Yourself
You can judge for yourself by reading the emails. Here is a quick summary of each with a link to the actual email.
The first email released was issued on October 25, 2001, just before the imposition of the blackout period on October 26th. Gottesdiener claims that the Company issued the email because it had been besieged by workers who were begging the Company to postpone the transition to allow them to sell their shares.
The second email released was issued on September 27, 2001 and was the Company's initial announcement to employees about the blackout period. According to Gottesdiener, the information contained in the email was "simply false." The email told employees that the blackout period would begin on October 19th, and not October 26th, leading many employees to think that they could make changes between October 19 and October 26 when in fact they could.
Rick Meigs, Publisher, 401khelpcenter.com
