IBM: Free Cobol, Commission Payment Allegations, and Trust
April 14, 2020
I noticed that the IBM Web site providing information about the virus contains the word “trust”. Here’s the screen snap of the assertion:
I found this interesting. IBM is offering “free” Cobol training. The idea is to get the struggling mainframe systems used for state unemployment calculations up to snuff. (Why are these stalwarts not up to snuff?) Doesn’t one “trust” mainframes to just chug away as the machines have often for decades. Obviously Ruby and python coders are not much help. I can imagine this statement, “Why does this IBM keyboard have so many weird keys.” Ah, youth.
The more interesting story is “Guess What’s Heading to trial? IBM and Its Tactic of Yoinking Promised Commissions after Sales Reps Seal the Deal.” I learned:
IBM appears to be able to adjust awards to salespeople at its discretion because it doesn’t have a solid contract with them. Its Incentive Plan Letter, used for such contracts, contain a disclaimer stating that the letters are not commission contracts in a very real and legally binding sense.
What makes this interesting is that:
The IT giant does not always revise commission payments, it is claimed. Two of Beard’s colleagues who worked on similar deals got paid in full. Both were white; Beard is African American. That said, Beard’s complaint contends the practice is common enough that IBM has saved itself a substantial amount of money by capping sales commissions. The lawsuit claims that from 2013 to 2015, IBM secretly underpaid its sales representatives more than $40,000,000 nationwide.
Now about that word “trust”: Mainframe support, sales commissions, and IBM Watson addressing the virus problem. How’s that going, Watson?
Stephen E Arnold, April 13, 2020
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