Saturday, March 13, 2010

Zenn Motor Company BoD Botches Harrassment Incident?

According to multiple sources including a Zenn Motor Company institutional investor (who all spoke on the condition of anonymity), a sexual harassment scandal may have been mishandled by Zenn's executive team and board of directors. Apparently, an internal investigation has determined that a senior Zenn executive violated sexual harrassment rules with a junior employee. The executive was disciplined but not terminated. Instead, a senior officer who voiced concern to the board of directors that the incident and alleged victim's well being were being mishandled was later dismissed from his job. Additionally, an alleged witness to one of the incidents was also dismissed. The sequence of events, whether related or not, will likely result in questions leading up to the Annual General Meeting on March 24, 2010.

The anonymous reports on the incident matched details dropped by others in various internet message boards in recent days. Zenn CEO, Ian Clifford offered no comment.

Out of respect for all parties, I have left out the names of those involved.

When asked if he felt the incident will be very damaging to Zenn, the institutional investor said it all depends on whether Zenn's board determines to put it behind them quickly or let it drag out (with the standard caveat regarding Zenn's complete dependency on EEStor).