Tipsheet

Thanks Taxpayers! Solyndra Employees Getting Bonuses

After the Obama adminstration threw away $500 million on Solyndra, a solar company they knew would go bankrupt before issuing a taxpayer funded loan, Solyndra employees are now cashing in. Workers are receiving bonuses and pay raises. 

Several of the nearly two dozen employees at bankrupt solar panel maker Solyndra LLC who were approved for bonuses Wednesday had months earlier received pay raises as high as 70 percent, a fact the company never disclosed in its request for bonus cash.

The company’s bankruptcy attorneys sought permission for the bonuses in a court hearing, arguing that the extra cash is needed to keep key employees from fleeing only to be replaced by more expensive outside consultants.

With little chance of stable employment and officials moving to liquidate assets, the workers needed to wind down the company have little incentive to stay, the Solyndra attorneys argued.

Shouldn't Solyndra employees be happy they still have a job? Instead of begging for more money for failing miserably? I guess taxpayers can rest easier knowing the workers didn't get all of the bonus money lawyers requested in court.

In the reduced bonus plan, 20 employees would received no more than $368,5000 combined. Fifteen of the 20 bonus recipients earned salaries of $100,000 or more.