Enron wants pay-offs, bonuses for bosses

Enron has asked a bankruptcy court to approve lucrative retention bonuses, pay-offs and legal expenses for current executives.

The company is fearful of losing senior managers and board members and having trouble recruiting new ones.

It says the spending is "critical" to its plan to rebuild. Each component requires bankruptcy court approval.

Part of the plan would allow the company to pay up to $90m (€103m) in bonuses to hundreds of senior managers working on asset sales. The payments would be funded with a small portion of the cash they collect from those sales.

Additional retention bonuses of up to $40m (€46m) would be paid to other senior managers involved in day-to-day operations.

"Clearly, some security must be afforded to these employees," the company said in its filing with US Bankruptcy Court. "Otherwise, they have little or no reason to defer finding new jobs."

For people now working at Enron but who might be laid off, the company is proposing a new severance package that would be based on years of service, with a maximum of eight weeks base pay and a minimum of $4,500 (€5,000). Total severance would not exceed $7m (€8m).

Enron has cut about 4,500 workers since December 2 when it filed for protection from creditors under bankruptcy law.

In its filing, the company said compensation opportunities at Enron have greatly diminished since the loss in value of its retirement plan, other stock-incentive programs and the depletion of previous retirement plans.

"Key employees are not being compensated at competitive market levels," the company said.