Enron Corp. offered some good news to former employees awaiting payment for business expenses, unused vacation and health claims. It said Friday that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of New York, which is handling its case, will allow it to make payments to former employees, and said it was “now in the process of calculating vacation payments for former employees and anticipates that it will make payment by late February 2002.” The court has approved payment for unused vacation days subject to the $15,000 cap and also has authorized full payment of pre and post-petition expense reports and health benefits, subject to Enron’s regular approval policies.

Under the court’s approval, a $15,000 cap has been applied to the total payment for the sum of pre-petition wages (offset by any $4,500 payment received for severance and wages) and accrued, unpaid vacation days. Enron said it has not been authorized to pay former employees signing bonuses, guaranteed bonuses, retention bonuses, or additional separation or severance payments. For pre-petition claims exceeding the $15,000 cap, a filing may be made with the bankruptcy court.

The bankruptcy court also has authorized payment of pre-petition and post-petition health benefits, subject to Enron’s practices and procedures. Health benefits expenses are not subject to the $15,000 bankruptcy-related cap. All pre-petition and post-petition business expenses also will be paid, subject to management approval in accordance with Enron policy. Business expenses include tuition reimbursement, relocation expenses and expense reports. These business expenses are not subject to the $15,000 bankruptcy-related cap. A file claim form can be found at: www.nysb.uscourts.gov/pdf/proofofclaimnew.pdf

No deadline has been set by the court. Typically, a bankruptcy court will set deadlines for various filings with the court. One deadline is known as the “bar date,” which is the last date on which claimants may submit claims for pre-petition obligations. The bar date is generally at least six months after the Chapter 11 petition is filed, but Enron said it does not yet know the bar date for the its filing. It also said there would be “no advantage to filing claims early. All claims filed by the bar date will be considered.”

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