In a victory for laid-off employees of bankrupt Enron Corp., U.S. Trustee Carolyn Schwartz informed attorneys for the Severed Enron Employees Coalition (SEEC) on Thursday that she will appoint an “official committee” to focus on their issues. The committee would have basically the same standing as the 15-member Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors set up to oversee Enron’s assets and debts, which could give the former workers a better chance of recovering benefits.

The SEEC formally had requested the committee appointment in January. With a separate Employee Committee, concerns of former workers will carry the same weight of those in the Creditors Committee, which is composed of industry and banking interests owed by Enron.

“What can I say? We’re thrilled,” said attorney Scott Baena, of the ruling by Schwartz to appoint an employees committee. Baena had filed the first motion calling for the appointment. “These Chapter 11 cases have the potential to tear the fabric of the nation’s employee retirement system. Undoubtedly, and by no choice of their own, the severed employees are at the forefront of a battle likely to rage in the courts and in Congress for a long time. The Severed Employees are entitled to full and complete representation in every forum where their fate is being decided.”

Currently, there is only one former employee on the unsecured creditors’ committee; the remainder of the committee is comprised of five banks, three indenture trustees, two investment management companies, three trade creditors and one insurance company. The former Enron employee had been an in-house attorney.

In a letter to Baena, Schwartz wrote, “because of issues peculiar to these cases, including the facts that there are more than 20,000 participants in the Debtors’ employee benefits plans and many suits brought relating to the Debtors’ 401(k) plan, I have determined that separate representation is appropriate.” Schwartz has invited SEEC attorneys to make recommendations concerning the specific composition of the new Employees Committee. A similar invitation has been made to Texas Attorney General John Cornyn. Attorneys on behalf of SEEC said they “intend to immediately respond to her request.”

A group of laid off employees renewed a petition to the bankruptcy court Thursday asking for severance pay to be distributed. They were joined in the petition by the Reverend Jesse Jackson and attorneys for the AFL-CIO (see Daily GPI, Feb. 15) . Enron has paid $4,500 to some employees and nothing to several hundred others. The motion filed by the former employees requests the court to order Enron to immediately pay each individual’s severance up to $30,000 — according to the company’s personnel manual formula.

In other news, William Powers, appointed to the Enron board of directors to oversee the internal investigation last fall, officially resigned from the board on Thursday. Powers’ 218-page report was completed and released Feb. 3. Powers said he would return to his duties as dean of the University of Texas Law School.

Along with former board members, others formerly employed by Enron also are getting on with their lives. One group of ex-employees has launched Mobius Risk Group to help commercial customers outsource their energy procurement. Eric Melvin, who will be CEO, was vice president in the Value Enhancement Group of Enron Energy Services until last August. He said Mobius will offer energy risk assessment, portfolio and procurement management, utility representation and services and efficiency projects among other things.

Serving as president will be Ted Behrens who was laid off from Enron in December. Melvin said the company will target Fortune 2000 companies using gas and electricity, and is in the final stages of securing its first clients.

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