Hertz Bonuses Rejected by Judge Who Calls Them ‘Offensive’

Hertz Global Holdings Inc. must change its plan to pay 14 top executives up to $5.4 million in bonuses if it wants win approval for the incentive program, says the judge overseeing the car renter’s bankruptcy.

Judge Mary Walrath sided with opponents of the payouts, who argued that the bonus program comes too soon after $16.2 million in retention money Hertz agreed to hand out to about 340 employees just days before it filed for bankruptcy in May. Walrath’s order also nixed a new plan that would have split as much as $9.2 million among about 295 lower-ranking managers.

“It ...