Thanks for the update -- that helps flesh out the story a little better.

I wonder, of course, why the company kept the IT Director on after that. And over $4k? $4k is nothing, for a company of that size.

The IT Manager should probably have sold it as "The DBA wants $60k -- he's probably worth lots more, because of his history with the company; why not raise him to $60K and give him a $5k bonus?" That way he'd have been a hero to both the company and the DBA.

Another quick story: my wife used to work at a company where she had a great manager and loved going to work. That manager moved on to something else and the Manager From Hell arrived. Morale plummeted, and the group started losing people.

My question is, where is HR when all this is going on? When a group goes from normal attrition to All Hands Abandon Ship, doesn't it occur for HR to look into what recent changes have taken place? And what about exit interviews? That information is gold for an ogranization -- the soon-to-be ex-employee has nothing to lose and can unload (within reason, of course).

Oh well. Stuff happens.