WorldCom Wins OK to Pay Fired Workers

TELECOM

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In a move to shore up the morale of its remaining workers, WorldCom Inc. won court permission to hand $36 million in severance payments to laid-off employees.

The ruling in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan also allows WorldCom to retract $1.4 million in severance payments promised to 19 laid-off company executives before the company filed for bankruptcy protection in July, as a multibillion-dollar accounting scandal unwound. In lieu of the lucrative settlements, the 19 will receive the same package as the rank-and-file workers: up to 26 weeks of salary and benefits.

The decision allows each of some 4,250 laid-off workers to receive an average of $9,000 to supplement the $4,650 WorldCom already paid.