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

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. <br> <br> &#34;We&#39;re about getting just due compensation for former employees,&#34; said Rod Jordan, 63, one of 4,500 employees who lost their jobs when the company filed for bankruptcy. <br> <br> Jordan said Sunday that the group, the Severed Enron Employees Coalition, wants U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzalez to approve a creditors&#39; committee comprised solely of former Enron workers. <br> <br> Members of the current unsecured creditors&#39; committee include banks and a former in-house Enron lawyer laid off last month. <br> <br> Bruce McGovern, a law professor specializing in bankruptcy at the South Texas College of Law in Houston, said it&#39;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. <br> <br> &#34;You&#39;d end up with a lot of committees, and that would be unworkable,&#34; McGovern said. <br> <br> 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. <br> <br> Enron said filing a claim doesn&#39;t guarantee payment, and any payment would come &#34;at the conclusion of the bankruptcy proceedings, which typically take months or years.&#34; <br> <br> <br>

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