Coke Calls Former Employee's Allegations `Very Serious'.

By Scott Leith, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

May 21--In early 2000, the leader of Coca-Cola's giant Burger King account signed off on a plan to influence the results of a test project under way in Virginia, an internal Coke document shows.

The tactic: Hire an outside consultant to spend up to $10,000 to buy value meals at Burger Kings in Richmond, boosting demand for Frozen Cokes and other frozen drinks that were being promoted as a prelude to taking the program nationwide.

The document, part of a wide-ranging lawsuit filed Monday by a former Coke employee, Matthew Whitley, shows that higher-ups at Coke punished the man, John Fisher, by cutting his bonus and stock options.

The incident may shed light on why Coke, which dismissed Whitley as a "disgruntled" former worker, is …