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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: marginmike who wrote (59805)	1/5/2000 2:24:00 PM
From: Ruffian	Respond to of 152472

Qualcomm faces suit by ex-workers Thomas Sprague worked for Qualcomm until the company sold his division to Ericsson. He and other former Qualcomm employees say they lost out on the stock windfall and plan to take legal action. SAN DIEGO, Jan. 4 - Qualcomm has made millionaires of many employees and investors. But one group of former workers says it has been left out of the bonanza and wants to take the matter to court. Thomas Sprague says he and hundreds of other employees at the telecommunications company were promised they would benefit as Qualcomm grew and that they would have a chance to benefit. “During the period that we were growing, it wasn't uncommon to see people working straight through the night. Ten, 11 o'clock at night,” Sprague says. They felt sure they were in a company that was going places. Instead, their whole division was sold to Ericsson and they became Ericsson employees. They've been watching shares of Qualcomm stock go through the roof, hundreds of points in just the last month. They say it's not fair, arguing that they helped build the company and now should be entitled to some of the benefits. “Qualcomm misrepresented to these employees that they would be receiving stock options over a period of time when Qualcomm actually knew and was in the process of selling the infrastructure division to Ericsson,” says David A. Perkins, an attorney representing Sprague. Meantime, Qualcomm stock has shot up. Thomas Sprague figured up how much he's lost by not having those stock options as a Qualcomm employee. “It came to $12 million,” he says. Perkins says Sprague is not alone. “We have some very interesting stories,” he said. “We have people that have taken pay cuts to come to Qualcomm based on the stock options promised.” Sprague says don't get him wrong. Ericsson is a good company, but he moved here from Asia to work for Qualcomm, in part because of those options. Now he's lost out. “It doesn't cost me,” Sprague says. “I just don't have the money.” The courts will now have to determine if he gets it. It is a class action lawsuit and as many as 1,000 former employees could be part of it. An attorney representing the plaintiffs says if Qualcomm loses, it could cost the company about $1 billion. Qualcomm declined comment, saying it would not speak about a pending lawsuit.