Bovis Lend Lease is in dispute with Andrew Silverbeck, its former global chief financial officer, over a bonus payment.
Silverbeck left at the end of the summer after Adrian Chamberlain, the global chief executive, was replaced by Australian Bob Johnston.
A senior Bovis source confirmed that talks were going on between Silverbeck and Bovis Lend Lease over the payment of his bonus. A Bovis spokesman said it was not company policy to comment on personal matters.
Silverbeck, who joined the company in July last year, moved to an environmental consultancy shortly after the arrival of Johnston.
Jason Millett, the UK chief executive, also departed after a profit writedown of £54m, which included a £14m hit on the BBC Broadcasting house project in London and the £80m Bridgewater Place tower in Leeds.
Millett is understood to have left after clashing with Johnston over the decision to split the UK into construction and PFI divisions.
Murray Coleman, the former head of Bovis’ Asia pacific region, was drafted in to take charge of the UK business.