An Open Letter to the Director of HP Corporate Human Resources

An Open Letter to the Director of Corporate Human Resources, Marcela Perez de Alonso, by the Five French Unions :

Marcela,

Our approach may appear unusual, however if the five Unions present within HP France have agreed to address you directly, it is to invoke a disturbing situation which has generated a lot of emotion amongst HP’s French employees, and which unfortunately has not proved to be solvable through usual consultation and negotiation processes.

The radical changes to the Range Setting which sets employee’s paygrade according to Job Function have lead to the following situation in France:

· Mainstream Population: 73.2% of employees suffer a decrease of 1 to 2 paygrades, whilst only 2.7% increase by one paygrade

· Sales Population: 40.7% of employees suffer a decrease of 1 to 2 paygrades whilst only 3.8% increase by one paygrade

This announcement was received as a shock by French employees, and has been difficult to accept for three reasons:

1 - Loss of confidence in the rating mechanism :

Most people accord importance to the Job and Wage architecture as a way to position their value to HP and career progression. Proceeding with such massive paygrade degradations have provoked feelings of personal devaluation, and has directly lead to the mistrust of the job and rating mechanism. It has disappointed HP employees who saw their efforts rewarded in the wage and earnings system. Consequently these massive degradations are undermining employees’ motivation and morale.

2 - France unfairly affected :

Whilst EMEA as a whole is impacted by a drop in paygrades for an average 20% of the workforce, France is affected to the tune of about 60%. What might appear elsewhere as an adjustment to the system, because of the massive scale of degradations in France it is seen by many as a sanction of French employees.

3 - Lack of transparency :

Prior to this new range setting, French HR had always justified the positioning of pay grades in France as being market-compliant. The explanations for the new mechanism of range setting are presented as: "Market research, revision of the “competitive index”, new policies "on the pay grade ranges”. But neither Union Representatives nor their appointed Experts have received communication of the new market research or how they apply to jobs within HP France. This makes the exercise completely opaque, and it is impossible for us to understand or verify. The underlying logic of a very important change to pay market analysis from one fiscal year to another remains totally incomprehensible, and through lack of justification it cannot be serenely embraced by employees.

Faced with this situation, and on several occasions, the French Unions have invoked the frustration and incomprehension expressed by employees, both to HR France (Pierre-Yves Tilly) and to the France Country Manager (Yves de Talhouët). Pressed by employee meetings at all French sites and petitioned by over 1800 signatures, the unions have asked for:

· A moratorium on the application of the new range settings
· The provision of information needed to gain a detailed understanding of the motivations behind the changes in order to be able to discuss in a concerted manner their adaptation to the HP France population.

HR France appears to have understood our arguments and our discontent, and apparently requested to HR Corporate a moratorium on the implementation. However their response is that this has been refused. However, HP France employees have difficulty assimilating these changes, and do not wish to internalise their loss of confidence and hopes, and their frustration. Since no further progress on this issue seems possible in France, we hereby are informing you of the situation in France and ask you formally for a response to our requests:

· A moratorium on the implementation of the measure
· Access to the detailed information which underlay the changes to the range setting system so that we can openly negotiate their application in France.

Finally, we would also ask you to respond to this open letter by explaining directly to french employees the foundation and the benefits of these changes as well as any clarifications that you consider appropriate to address the unhappiness that the measures have provoked.


Best regards,

The Five French Unions.

Employee talks : "Industry benchmark excuses"

"HR, speaking for management, sends out notes each time cuts in benefits, elimination of retirement plans, job re-classifications and even office cube-size reductions are announced. The notes justify the reductions by basically saying, "After careful analysis of what is going on in the market, it was found that HP was being too generous to its employees and is lowering the benefits to be more in line with market conditions."

Interestingly, while externally we are trying to set the industry agenda, internally it oftentimes feels like we are on a race to the bottom of the pack, using industry benchmarks as excuses.

I know it is self-serving to complain about what I have lost and I know that cutting costs in our business is a fact of life for the rest of our lives. Yet, I wonder how much more can be squeezed out of us before the career becomes just a job — and the job is done just according to spec. If my pay and benefits are set by the industry benchmark, should the quantity and quality of the time I spend on the job also be industry-average ? "

HP to Buy Back $8 Billion of Stock

Supreme Court rejects Hewlett-Packard's efforts to block class action suit

AP

The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed a class action lawsuit to proceed against Hewlett-Packard Co. that alleges Compaq, now a part of HP, sold defective computers.

The Supreme Court's action lets stand a 2005 ruling by an Oklahoma state court. The case involves a lawsuit by two Oklahoma residents, Stephen and Beverly Grider, who allege that Compaq Computer Corp. sold them a defective computer and didn't repair or replace it, as called for in the company's warranty.

The Griders sued in June 2003 and their lawyers asked the state court to certify a class of 1.7 million people who had bought similar computers. Their request was granted in 2005.
Compaq was purchased by Hewlett-Packard in 2002.

Class action suits allow numerous plaintiffs with similar claims to proceed in a single trial. Businesses usually oppose such designations given the greater damage awards that can result.
Compaq argued in court papers filed with the Supreme Court that a virtually identical lawsuit was brought in Texas in 2000. In that case, the Texas Supreme Court refused to certify a class action, ruling that Texas law shouldn't apply to out-of-state members of the class.

Nevertheless, Oklahoma's highest court not only certified the class, but said that Texas law should be applied in the case because, among other things, Compaq was headquartered in Texas.

Compaq's lawyers said that under the full faith and credit clause of the Constitution, which requires states to honor each others' laws and court rulings, Oklahoma shouldn't be able to apply Texas law when Texas' highest court has reached the opposite conclusion.

HP scandal: where are they now?

San Jose Mercury News

The HP spying scandal ruined careers, decimated family businesses and sullied previously sterling reputations. Here is a brief update on the key players:

* Tom Perkins, partner emeritus, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, former HP board member. Perkins blew the whistle on HP's investigation after learning his phone records were obtained by investigators. At press time, he was in Europe on his massive yacht, the Maltese Falcon, with a crew from "60 Minutes." His autobiography, "Valley Boy," is due from Penguin Nov. 5.

* Patricia Dunn, former chair. Hewlett-Packard Dunn initiated two internal investigations into boardroom leaks while chair of HP. She resigned from the board in September 2006. The California attorney general dropped felony charges against her in March. Dunn is spending time with her family, trying to stay healthy and fight cancer. She has also given talks on the lecture circuit.

* George "Jay" Keyworth, former HP board member. Keyworth resigned from HP's board in September 2006, acknowledging that he was the source of an article on CNET about a management retreat to discuss strategy. He is chairman of the Progress & Freedom Foundation, a Washington think tank, and on the board of General Atomics.

* Larry Sonsini, chair, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. As HP's outside counsel, Sonsini interviewed board members about leaks to the press in 2005 for then-CEO Carly Fiorina, and in 2006 his firm was asked by HP to investigate its use of pretexting during the subsequent boardroom leak probes. At the end of last year, he was replaced as HP's outside counsel, though his company still does legal work for HP.

* Ann Baskins, former general counsel HP. After a 24-year-career with HP, Baskins resigned as the company's head attorney on the morning of a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C. Married to a Wilson Sonsini lawyer, Tom DeFilipps, Baskins is not currently practicing as an attorney.

* Kevin Hunsaker, former ethics chief HP. Hunsaker, a lawyer, was the person who ended up running the investigation to uncover the boardroom leak. In June, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Ray E. Cunningham dismissed pretexting charges against Hunsaker after he completed 96 hours of community service during which he worked for the Fair Housing Law Project, a community legal aid service.

* Ron DeLia, Security Outsourcing Solutions of Boston; Matthew DePante, Action Research Group of Melbourne, Fla.; Bryan Wagner, a data broker in Littleton, Colorado. Charges against outside investigators Delia and DePante were dismissed after they performed community service. Wagner pleaded guilty to two felonies; sentencing is set for Oct. 3. DeLia's company is still operating, but the scandal has had a "devastating" personal and financial impact, said his lawyer, John Williams. The DePantes were both "financially and emotionally devastated," said attorney Susy Ribero-Ayala. "They shut down their business. It took a toll on their family."

50.47 $ !!!

Reporters, Family Sue HP in Spy Scheme

FT, AP : "HP's boardroom-spying scandal was back in the spotlight on Wednesday after a group of reporters and their families sued the computer maker over its controversial internal investigation into the identity of a boardroom mole.

Five separate lawsuits claiming "illegal and reprehensible conduct" were filed in San Francisco Superior Court against Palo Alto-based Hewlett-Packard, former Chairwoman Patricia Dunn and Kevin Hunsaker, the company's former ethics chief.

The lawsuits allege invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and engaging in unfair business practices. They seek unspecified damages and a jury trial. "We're filing the lawsuits to make sure this never happens again," said Kevin Boyle, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs.

HP said it apologized to each of the people affected by the spying probe and made a "substantial" settlement offer. "Unfortunately, rather than respond to the offer, they have decided to sue," HP said in a statement. "HP is disappointed by their decision and will defend itself."

The lawsuits come nearly a year after HP disclosed in a Sept. 2006 regulatory filing that investigators used a tactic called "pretexting" -- or pretending to be someone else to obtain private information from companies -- to spy on board members, journalists and their families.
The next month, California's attorney general charged Dunn, Hunsaker and three private investigators with four felony counts each -- including fraud, identity theft and conspiracy.

Those charges were later dropped, with a Santa Clara County judge calling their conduct a "betrayal of trust and honor" that nonetheless did not rise to the level of criminal activity.
Separately, HP agreed to pay $14.5 million in a civil settlement with the state, most of which was slated to fund investigations into privacy rights and intellectual property violations.

The U.S. attorney's office in San Francisco brought charges against one of the investigators, Bryan Wagner, who pleaded guilty to two felony counts of identity theft and conspiracy in the case. His sentencing is set for October in San Jose federal court.