Obama’s Compensation Head Ken Feinberg Caps Exec Pay

Ken Feinberg, the administration’s compensation czar, capped pay at $500k/yr for execs at firms receiving what he calls exceptional assistance from the government. With very few TARP repayments so far, this covers a lot of companies and executives. Full ABC story here, with a small excerpt below:

Feinberg is limiting cash salaries at the firms to $500,000, except in “exceptional cases.” To date, the companies have identified about 12 exceptional cases.

The rulings cover 2009 compensation for the 26th to 100th highest-paid employees at four companies: AIG, Citigroup, General Motors and GMAC.

“The negotiations with these companies have been very cordial, very constructive,” Feinberg said. “There’s been some disagreements but I think there’s general acceptance that the process has worked out very well.”

Chrysler and Chrysler Financial are exempt from the new rules because they have no employees (with one exception) among their 26th-100th highest-paid that earn more than $500,000.