This might seem to be very ironical to many but yesterday, the high court judges at parallel hearings in Canada and the United States adjudged eight top executives of Nortel Networks Corp. as eligible for up to $7.3-million (U. S.) bonus payments under a retention plan.

This support came notwithstanding objections from a Toronto lawyer Eli Karp representing approximately 60 of the 1,100 Canadian workers laid off last year from Nortel and deprived of their severances after the company filed for bankruptcy protection in January.

Mr. Karp argued that denial of the severance and benefits payments had forced the workers to turn to government employment insurance.

"In the context of the global financial climate the way it is today, our clients object to millions of dollars of bonus payments being made," said Eli.

However, the bonuses seem to be just a part of the larger plan of setting aside more than $23 million for 92 managers, and also as much as $22 million for another 880 employees to ensure low attrition rate.