General Motors General Counsel Michael Milikin said lawyers fired as a result of the investigation into the company’s ignition switch recall were given severance packages during a Senate hearing yesterday, The Detroit Free Press reports.
Milikin said the now fired members of the GM legal team were given payments which were well above what they had earned as part of the company’s pension program. Many GM attorneys were fired after it was found they had failed to act on the faulty ignition switch issues after knowing about the matter since at least 2006.
Milikin did not say whether or not members outside the legal team, such as ignition switch engineer Ray Degiorgio, were given similar severance packages. GM spokesman Greg Martin also declined to comment on the matter, the Free Press reports.
“We’re going to consider those personnel matters and not discuss separation actions,” Martin said. “All of the actions that we did take were in accordance with labor laws, and in that instance he was asked a direct question and Mike responded.”
Millikin also said during yesterday’s hearing that GM did not prevent dismissed employees from cooperating with federal or other legal investigations as part of their compensation plan.
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