Indiana

As public outrage over executive compensation intensifies, experts believe there will be an increase in whistle-blower lawsuits filed by employees alleging they were fired for opposing their executives? compensation packages.

Two such lawsuits were filed in March?one involving Citizens Republic Bancorp, a Flint, Michigan-based bank that has been approved to receive $300 million in bailout funds through the Troubled Asset Relief Program, and the other against
McDonald?s Corp.

Experts say that given the heightened scrutiny regarding executive compensation, particularly in the wake of President Barack Obama?s opposition to bonuses given to AIG executives, more lawsuits are coming.

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Similarly, on March 26 Lisa Bridges, McDonald?s former senior director of compensation, filed a suit in federal court stating she was fired after refusing to certify some executive compensation disclosures in the company?s 2007 proxy statements.

Among the issues that the suit says Bridges opposed were McDonald?s failure to disclose that it had paid for two country club memberships, totaling $3,000, for Tim Fenton, president of the company?s
Asian operations.