As I said it was a rumor. I do however know for a fact the company did something similar. During the Delta/Western merger pay scales were a issue. Delta maintained they did not have a B scale only a longevity based pay scale since all pilots years 1 to 5 were paid under one pay scale. This was possible because when the Bscale contract was signed Delta had no pilots on the property in years 2-5 so only one pay scale needed in the contract. With the merger with Western a substantial number of pilots at Western were on year 2 through 5 for pay purposes but hired prior to the Delta B scale contract. Delta recreated the old A scale to pay those pilots. This was not in any side letter or the contract. In addition Delta promised no Western Employee would take a pay cut. Western pilot pay was higher in year 2 than Delta pilot pay. At the end of year two former western pilots were plussed up from the Delta pay rate to the Western pay rate via a one time lump sum payment.
All of the above was kept extremely quiet as Delta did not want the Delta B scale pilots aware that Western pilots in the same pay step years were making substantially more money than they were. There were no LOA’s and nothing in the contract. Things were different back than and I doubt there would have been any issue paying a tax stipend.