Teva to Lay Off 1,000; Croatian Staff to Get Generous Severances

(MoneyWatch)  Teva Pharmaceuticals is to lay off 1,000 or more employees worldwide as part of its acquisition of Barr Pharmaceuticals. Three hundred of those layoffs will be in at Teva's IVAX plant in DOral, Fla., according to the Miami Herald.

Those workers may be wishing they were Croatian, however. At Teva's Zagreb facility, 790 employees are to go. But check out the deal they get. Israel's Globes Online:

The "Croatian Times" quotes Pliva chairman Matko Bolanca as saying that the employees will receive "huge severance payments". Employees will less than 25 years seniority will receive ?40,500 and employees with more than 25 years seniority will receive more than ?50,000. Employees who have spent their entire working lives with the company will receive ?270,000. Remaining employees will receive a pay hike.

In other words, the minimum payout in Croatia will be about $52,000! (And you thought only CEOs got paid for failing.)

The South Florida Business Journal says the Doral workers will also get "severance packages," but there's no detail on how generous they will be (or whether they will be paid in more-valuable euros ...)