Car rental company suspends merit pay, cuts compensation

<br>TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ The travel slowdown since the Sept. 11 attacks continues to take a toll on Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, which announced pay and benefit cuts Thursday. <br><br>The Tulsa-based

Thursday, December 20th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ The travel slowdown since the Sept. 11 attacks continues to take a toll on Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, which announced pay and benefit cuts Thursday.

The Tulsa-based company, which owns Dollar Rent A Car and Thrifty, said it plans to suspend the company's match to employees' 401K plans and all merit pay increases for 2002.

Also, the company will enact a 17 percent to 22 percent reduction in compensation for its top 40 executives.

``This has been the most troubling year our industry has ever experienced,'' said Joseph E. Cappy, the company's chairman and chief executive.

To control costs, the company reduced its fleet size and staffing hours at reservation centers and decreased its headquarters' staff by 20 percent in early October.

The auto rental company reported a drop of $30 million in its third quarter net income over a year earlier. It had net income of $6 million, or 25 cents a share for the quarter.