Hawaiian Telcom said it will pay former Chief Executive Officer Michael Ruley nearly $1.3 million along with a monthly consulting fee of $23,830 starting next month.

The disclosure, made in a filing yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, comes less than a month after Ruley abruptly resigned from the state's largest telephone company. Ruley was replaced on Feb. 4 by noted turnaround expert Stephen Cooper.

The $1.3 million includes cash payments and bonuses that Ruley was entitled to in 2007 but have not yet been paid. It also includes reimbursement of attorneys' fees of up to $4,500 and other benefits.

The company would not comment beyond its filing with the SEC.

Ruley could not be reached for response yesterday.

The payment is in line with severance packages received by some other outgoing CEOs. A top chief executive of a large company will often receive as much a year's pay upon retiring or resigning. Ruley received about $1.1 million in compensation in 2006, according to company filings with the SEC.

Hawaiian Telcom is paying its new CEO, Cooper, and his management team $600,000 a month, or up to $7.2 million a year, to run the company.

Ruley was named Hawaiian Telcom's CEO in October 2004 and headed the company's transition after Washington, D.C.-based Carlyle Group completed its acquisition of the company from Verizon Communications Inc. for $1.6 billion in May 2005.

During his tenure at Hawaiian Telcom, the company lost thousands of customers and the state Public Utilities Commission opened an investigation into the company's poor customer service.

Over the past two years, the 1,600-employee company lost a total of $137.2 million in large part because of increased competition from wireless, cable and Internet companies.

Reach Rick Daysog at rdaysog@honoluluadvertiser.com.