Colgate execs get $11,500 for pet sitters

Colgate-Palmolive Co. has disclosed that many of its top executives are given allowances of up to $11,500 a year to spend on anything from pet sitters to running shoes.

Colgate-Palmolive Co., which announced Tuesday it is eliminating 4,400 jobs, disclosed in a regulatory filing that many of its top executives and officers are given allowances of up to $11,500 a year to spend on anything from pet sitters to running shoes to karate lessons to movie rentals. The plan, called "Above and Beyond," was detailed in the consumer product company's quarterly filing in November with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The program has been in place since 1986 and covers 800 executives.

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Under the plan, executives and officers can ask for reimbursement for exercise equipment, such as rowing or skiing machines, instructional videos, grooming and boarding services for pets, pet walking services and sitters, and veterinarian fees and visits. Twenty top officers are each eligible for an $11,500 yearly allowance. Between 110 and 120 vice presidents are eligible for $10,000 allowances and 650 executives are eligible for allowances of either $2,000 or $4,000, depending on their rank. Not every eligible executive uses their allowance, the company said.