Nearly 200 laid off Enron employees demand severance pay from former employer

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Posted 5:12AM on Monday, January 21, 2002

HOUSTON - 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 U.S. 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."