Enron, Creditors Negotiating Bonuses for Crucial Employees

NEW YORK -- As 4,500 fired Enron Corp. workers await meager severance payments, the bankrupt energy firm and its creditors are negotiating a new round of "retention bonuses" for the luckier few considered indispensable to keeping Enron running.

The new bonus package was expected to be submitted for approval by Judge Arthur J. Gonzalez in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York this week, perhaps as early as today, Enron spokeswoman Karen Denne said.

Few issues in the Enron scandal have raised more hackles than the $55 million in bonuses that the company awarded to about 550 people on Nov. 30, two days before filing for the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history. Critics have made much of the contrast between bonuses of as much as $5 million for certain key employees and the relative pittance for the fired workers, many of whom face financial hardship. Gonzalez last week approved an additional $1,100 apiece for the idled workers, on top of initial severance payments of $4,500 each.

Lawyers for the fired workers are seeking severance of as much as $30,000 apiece. The issue has been scheduled for a hearing April2.