Vita Cortex chiefs got €250k lump sum deals

TWO senior executives of the Vita Cortex operation in Cork received severance pay in excess of the amount needed to secure agreed redundancy payments for the 32 workers engaged in a sit-in at the plant.

The two managers received a full pension as well as lump sums of €250,000 each in the last 12 months — amounts totalling €100,000 more than the company is obliged to pay to give the workers their agreed redundancy of 2.9 weeks per year of service.

The full amount needed to fund the redundancies is just over €1 million, but because the closure of the plant predates the last budget, the state will pay 60% of that amount. Since January 1, the state’s contribution to redundancy payments has been slashed to 15%.