H-P CEO Settled Harassment Charges

He’s got his $28 million payday and now it seems that the alleged sexual-harassment charges against Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd have been dealt with. Hurd, H-P, and the outside contractor at the center of the allegations reportedly reached a settlement on Thursday. Sources close to the case say that no money was paid to the outside contractor as part of the settlement. In a memo to employees, interim CEO Cathie Lesjak explained that Hurd’s relationship with the contractor, who worked for the company between 2007 and 2009, “instituted a conflict of interest,” and that he “failed to maintain accurate response reports, and misused company assets.” A source close to Hurd denied the account of the relationship, though the person did say that Hurd traveled to both Los Angeles and Denver to interview the contractor over the course of a month in 2007, which is not typical for a CEO. Hurd was hit with the sexual-harassment case in June, and resigned on Friday.