CEO pay vs. worker pay: Dallas-Fort Worth companies with the biggest and smallest gaps

Public companies are required to report the ratio between what they pay their CEOs versus what their workers are paid at the median point.

In Dallas-Fort Worth, those gaps run the gamut from an eye-popping 3,079 to 1 to an unusually tiny 0 to 1.

Yes, you read that right. One CEO’s pay is less than his employees.

Fossil Group CEO Kosta Kartsotis’ long-standing practice of refusing all forms of compensation resulted in the smallest wage gap among the 100 largest public companies in Dallas-Fort Worth. The Dallas Morning News analyzes executive pay on an annual basis, using data culled from the companies’ regulatory filings.

Kartsotis’ compensation has totaled $0 since 2005, according to Fossil’s proxy filing. He joined the retailer in 1988 and became CEO in 2000.

In 2014, Fossil told USA Today: “Our CEO continued to refuse all forms of compensation, expressing his belief that, given his level of stock ownership, his primary compensation is met by continuing to drive stock price growth, thereby aligning his interests with stockholders’ interest.’’

After selling some of his stock in 2017, Kartsotis still owns 6.2% of the company’s shares. Fossil’s market capitalization closed Wednesday just above $137 million.

Fossil’s median employee pay was $20,001 in 2022.

Four of the 10 smallest pay gaps were at oil and gas companies, where median salaries tend to be higher. Other sectors like insurance and manufacturing were also represented among the companies with the most CEO-to-worker pay parity.

On the other end of the spectrum, Dallas-based CSW Industrials’ pay ratio of 3,079 to 1 clocked in with the biggest gap.

CSW chief executive Joseph Armes’ compensation was boosted in fiscal 2022 by substantial stock awards, while a majority of the company’s 2,400 employees were located in Vietnam.

CSW identified its median employee as “an hourly manufacturing team member located in Dong Nai, Vietnam” being paid $5,523, according to its proxy filing.

The company’s fiscal year ends March 31 and it has already reported its pay ratio for this year – 355 to 1. Median pay for its Vietnam workers rose to $12,776 in fiscal 2023.

Plano-based Yum China, which operates Taco Bells, KFCs and Pizza Huts in China, had a similar situation with its 2,499:1 ratio. The company’s 364,000 employees are “substantially all” in China, with 75% working part-time or hourly.

Pawn shop operator FirstCash was next in line, mostly because its median employee was in Latin America, where FirstCash operates a majority of its pawn shops.

For related reasons, consumer-oriented brands such as Dave & Busters, Six Flags and Cinemark populated the rest of the list. They all rely heavily on part-time employees or minimum-wage workers to operate their stores, theme parks and movie theaters.