Henchy ‘could get bonus of six figures’

Former Dairygold chief executive Jerry Henchy told the High Court he was in line for an annual bonus each year which was potentially half his six-figure salary.

Mr Henchy was at the helm of Dairygold for six years with an annual salary of €560,000 until his employment was terminated in 2009.

It was decided at the end of each year after negotiations with the remuneration committee of Dairygold and the amount would be in his pay cheque the next month.

He said his 2004 and 2005 bonus was paid out by Dairygold and the 2006 bonus paid out by Reox Holdings plc, a related company which had merged with Dairygold in 2006.

After the merger, Mr Henchy was joint CEO of Dairygold and Reox Holdings and divided his time between the two companies, with the payment of his salary also divided between the companies.

In 2007, he said Dairygold wanted control over the bonus. He said there was also discussion when setting targets for the 2007 bonus for senior managers in line with milk prices. It was felt, he said, that it was not great to have bonuses paid out to managers when farmers were struggling “with lousy milk prices”, but the measure was not brought in.

Mr Henchy, aged 48, from Kilmallock, Co Limerick, was giving evidence at the High Court in his action against Dairygold Co-operative Society Ltd over the alleged termination in Jan 2009 of job, plus bonuses and allowances. He has not worked since. He is suing for €8m damages alleging his employment was wrongfully terminated for “spurious” reasons purporting to relate to €159,000 being owed on his personal farm account with Dairygold.

The real reason arose as a result of an orchestrated campaign involving the company’s chairman Vincent Buckley and others, he claims. Various members of the board were either objectively or, in the case of Mr Buckley and Bertie O’Leary, subjectively biased against him, he claims.

The damages claim includes a claim for alleged defamation, libel, and slander. He claims his professional and personal reputation was damaged by the alleged leaking to the media by someone within the society of the Jan 19, 2009, minutes of meetings of the Dairygold board and of its audit committee.

That alleged leaking, he claims, led to reports suggesting his employment was terminated due to misconduct and financial irregularities.

Patrick Hanratty, counsel for Mr Henchy, at the outset of the case said it was their case the raising of the overdue farm account with the audit committee happened “very suddenly” in circumstances where no issue was previously raised about Mr Henchy’s account.

While Mr Henchy had cleared his account in full after the issue was raised, the termination of his employment proceeded, he said.

Dairygold denies the claims, contends there was an issue about Mr Henchy’s farm account prior to Jan 2009, and denies any leaking of board minutes.

The case continues.