Nalcor Energy is defending what it calls a “variable component of compensation to its executives and senior managers” to “drive people towards achieving company and divisional performance.”

Nalcor was responding to concerns raised about huge bonuses given to high-ranking executives revealed in the province’s latest Sunshine List.

CEO Stan Marshall received a bonus of $315,000 over and above his $459,000 salary.

Gilbert Bennett meanwhile, received a bonus of nearly $70,000 dollars.

Energy Minister Andrew Parsons is taking action, informing Nalcor that the practice must stop.

The Crown corporation says incentive payments are “tied directly to individual performance contracts, which document specific, measurable objectives.”

In 2019, 106 people received a short-term incentive payment, totalling $2.9 million dollars, $1.4 million of which was paid to executives. The total payout represents about two per cent of the company’s total labour costs for the year according to Nalcor.