Nortel Monitor To Be Probed for 'Woeful' Performance?

A lawmaker in Ireland wants a government investigation into Nortel’s court-appointed monitor, Ernst & Young.

Alasdair McDonnell said this week the layoffs at the Nortel plants in Monkstown went against company officials’ insistence that jobs would be preserved.

“Ernst & Young’s handling of this insolvency case has been woeful and it would appear that they may have failed to pay appropriate regard to redundancy [severance] and employment legislation,” McDonnell told the Belfast Telegraph.

Ernst & Young told the newspaper it has acted “in accordance with the law.”

Meanwhile, Nortel’s plan to spend millions on bonus and incentives to keep employees is garnering even more controversy. When the former head of Nortel Business Services resigned last week, he was replaced by Christopher Ricaurte, who secured a two-year, $2.5-million incentive package, The Ottawa Citizen reported.

Overall, about 1,475 employees could receive more than $92.4 million total, even as it looks like Nortel will lay off about 10,000 workers. Nortel says most of that money will come from service agreements with Ericsson, Ciena, Avaya and other companies, but it has not disclosed whether additional funding will come from creditor recoveries or company assets, The Ottawa Citizen noted.