Ceridian Sacks Division Chief

Human resources outsourcer Ceridian (CEN) fired Gary Krow, president of its Comdata payment processing business division, for allegedly holding unauthorized discussions with a hedge fund that is pushing management to sell the unit.

Ceridian said Jim Burns, president of Ceridian International, has been named interim president of Comdata, effective immediately.

The move follows a decision in a related lawsuit that denied Pershing Square Capital access to internal communications between Ceridian executives, including Krow, and the company's board. Judge William D. Chandler of the Delaware Chancery ruled that forcing Ceridian to provide access to letters that exposed confidential information could hinder communications between board directors and executives.

But Chandler did hold that Krow violated the company's code of conduct by describing the internal communications to William A. Ackman, Pershing's portfolio manager. ...