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Selling jobs at Kodak

For generations, jobs at photo giant Eastman Kodak Co. have been treasured for their good pay and security by residents of the Rochester area. This is especially true now when times are tough. There were signs last week, though, that some Kodak jobs were prized to a fault. The Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed that it was looking into the possibility that Kodak insiders with the power to hire had sold jobs. Reported going rates: $500 to $1,000 apiece.

Kodak says that it called in the FBI six months ago when it learned of the scam, but word of the investigation broke only last week in the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. According to one report, an angry former employee complained to his friends that he had been fired from his job at Kodak's apparatus division less than a month after he had paid $1,000 to get the position.

Kodak Spokesman Timothy Elliott said the matter was of "serious concern" to the company. He insisted that Kodak would hire from its pool of 100,000 job applicants on merit alone. If there are arrests, they would come under the Hobbs Act, which prohibits extortion in any business engaged in interstate commerce. Maximum penalty: $10,000 in fines and security of another sort—20 years in jail.