Nearly 200 former Enron Corp workers have united to demand severance pay from the bankrupt energy giant that abruptly laid them off last month.
"We're about getting just due compensation for former employees," said Rod Jordan, 63, one of 4,500 employees who lost their jobs when the company filed for bankruptcy.
Jordan said Sunday that the group, the Severed Enron Employees Coalition, wants US Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzalez to approve a creditors' committee comprised solely of former Enron workers.
Members of the current unsecured creditors' committee include banks and a former in-house Enron lawyer laid off last month.
Bruce McGovern, a law professor specializing in bankruptcy at the South Texas College of Law in Houston, said it's unlikely Gonzalez would create a new committee just for former employees, because it could prompt other creditors to demand their own committees as well.
"You'd end up with a lot of committees, and that would be unworkable," McGovern said.
Enron told employees laid off just before and after the bankruptcy filing to file claims with the bankruptcy court -- and become creditors -- if they sought more severance pay.
Enron said filing a claim doesn't guarantee payment, and any payment would come "at the conclusion of the bankruptcy proceedings, which typically take months or years."
Gonzalez approved US$4,500 in severance for each of the laid off workers, which pales in comparison to the thousands more they would normally receive under Enron's severance policy.
Enron's severance policy says eligible workers are entitled to a week's pay for each full or partial year of employment and another week's pay for each USAndersen says Enron failed on business merits$10,000 they earned in salary, up to a maximum of 26 weeks.
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