Benefits dispute? 4 shot, killed in workplace nightmare
January 19, 2010 by Christian SchappelPosted in: Communication, In this week's e-newsletter - benefits, Latest News & Views, Pay and benefits
It’s the worst thing you can imagine happening in your office: An employee opens fire, killing four co-workers — all because he was unhappy with the way his retirement plan was being managed.
That’s just what may have happened at ABB Group, a manufacturing facility, in St. Louis, MO. Employee Timothy Hendron opened fire, killing four of his fellow co-workers before turning the gun on himself.
He was suing over ‘excessive fees’
With Hendron dead, we might never know the motive behind his violence. But what we do know is he was among several employees suing ABB and its trustee, Fidelity Management Trust, for “unreasonable and excessive fees” in ABB’s retirement plan.
Of course this is the most extreme example of just how heated the issue of retirement plan fees can become.
But the learning is clear: Closely monitor 401(k) fees to make sure they’re fair — and confirm that employees agree.
Tags: 401(k), ABB Group, excessive fees, Fidelity, Fidelity Management Trust, retirement plan, St. Louis, Timothy Hendron
January 19th, 2010 at 7:32 am
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January 21st, 2010 at 3:00 pm
Please tell me we don’t actually think that this guy’s issue was beneifts!
January 21st, 2010 at 3:59 pm
This guy had mental health issues long before he had issues with his benefit plan fees.
January 21st, 2010 at 4:21 pm
This article is fallacious. The writer states that “….we may never know the motive behind this violence.” And then goes on to state, …”this is the most extreme example of how heated the issue of retirement plan fees can become.”
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:22 am
And the last sentence: “But the learning is clear: Closely monitor 401(k) fees to make sure they’re fair — and confirm that employees agree.”
So we need to make sure employees agree that they think that fees they are going to pay are fair, (otherwise we might have murders taking place in our office)?
The next thing you know we might be advocating making speeches in employee lunch rooms, telling them, “We know you are peaceful people and we have made mistakes in the past by saying that employees who murder other employees are evil. We know that all employees are well-intentioned, it is the stress of work that causes these murders, and we want to make sure that you like us owners and managers of the company. Please don’t shoot us. We will do whatever you want.”
January 22nd, 2010 at 7:24 pm
This is quite a stretch — I would have to agree with those who said the guy had obvious mental issues outside of retirement plan fees. And Tom is absolutely correct that the article contradicts itself — it says we don’t know then claims to know. This kind of thing probably should not be published.
January 25th, 2010 at 9:17 am
Unfortunately rage is becoming acceptable behavior and shooting in the workplace is becomming common. We need to be mindfull of how we treat employees and vigilant on who we let into our offices.
January 25th, 2010 at 9:33 am
He probably did have mental health issues, he may have also had other stressors that had been accumulating; the excesives fees issue may have been the final straw. There are many people that while still employed have undergone major life style changes due to the current finacial crisis. His spouse may have lost her job, there could be health problems within the family, their home maybe in foreclosure, etc. We in HR cannot foresee the future, but if we can help our employees through these difficult times we will all benefit. In short we should not blow this incident off and blame it solely on mental health issues.
January 25th, 2010 at 10:59 am
We here in Louisiana had this happen just recently. I man went into his former employer’s office to shoot him, and when he was not in the former employee shot and killed the receptionist and the personal assistant.
Why? It was because the former employee wasn’t able to get unemployment.
This stuff can happen and does happen. It scares me to think some people brush it off as just have mental instability.
January 25th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
This brings an entirely different issue to light. This article really is not (or shouldn’t be) about retirement planning. In reality, it’s a reminder to all HR people that when we do terminations that we deem risky, we should make sure security in the building is aware, maybe even contact the police, etc. Of course, you can’t always tell when they will be risky. No matter how well you know an employee (or at least know their behavior), you really never know how someone will handle such an extreme sitaution as termination, so you should always have the best precautions you can in place.
Those of you like me who do a lot of terms do not need this lecture…you already know it. This is just my thoughts on what the real message of this article is. In all seriousness, those of us who term regularly should be getting hazard pay.
January 25th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
I agree that the article makes an exaggerated connection, but there were some media reports suggesting that the employee felt that he was mistreated due to participation in the lawsuit. If so, his reaction was extreme, of course, but retaliation to a benefits claim is illegal and employers should be on alert to avoid any form of it. Some monitoring of the possibility does make sense, both to avoid liability and to ensure that employees involved in such matters don’t develop feelings of mistreatment, which can have a negative impact on their performance, their co-workers, and the company. Unfortunately, such attitudes can occasionally result in horrific events such as this, but lesser reactions, such as minor sabotage, are also possible.
January 28th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
The reality is no one is completely safe in any situation.
It doesn’t matter what this guys problem was…it doesn’t justify murder. Any reason given for killing four innocent people is going to be lame and a responsible journalist shouldn’t even attempt to make any connections. Sensationalism…at it’s finest!