Severance packages have grown more generous in recent years, especially for executives, according to a new study. The survey, conducted by Lee Hecht Harrison, a consulting and career-services company in Woodcliff Lake, N.J, analyzed responses from 1,030 senior human-resources executives at U.S. organizations. The survey found that the median maximum severance payout period for senior executives rose to 52 weeks, double the median of 26 weeks reported in 2001, the last time Lee Hecht Harrison conducted this survey. Also, 51 percent of employers surveyed said they offer retention bonuses, up from 46 percent in 2001 and 36 percent on 1998. There's also a greater chance that severance will come with strings attached, the survey found. Eighty-eight percent of respondents said they require terminated workers to sign a release of claims in exchange for their severance benefits, up from 76 percent in 2001.

Fired HealthSouth Corp. CEO Richard Scrushy quit as a director of the rehabilitation chain he founded, finally heeding the company's repeated calls for his resignation more than 2½ years after a huge accounting fraud surfaced. Scrushy said Monday he would give up his seat ahead of a Dec. 29 shareholder meeting where leaders plan to introduce a new slate of directors that doesn't include Scrushy, acquitted of criminal charges but still facing numerous lawsuits over the scandal. Scrushy - who blamed the $2.6 billion accounting scheme on underlings - owns more than 3.7 million HealthSouth shares and said he plans to nominate some of his own directors at the meeting. Jurors in June acquitted Scrushy on multiple criminal charges of leading the fraud, in which 15 other executives pleaded guilty and another was convicted during a trial.

Ford Motor Co. said on Tuesday that its luxury Jaguar and Land Rover brands will no longer advertise in gay publications, but denied that the nation's second-largest automaker made the decision under pressure from conservative Christian groups. "The decisions with regard to advertising was a business decision," Ford spokesman Mike Moran said. He said Ford's Volvo brand would continue advertising in gay publications. Ford hasn't advertised its Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands in those publications, Moran added. Moran refused to say how much Ford has spent advertising in gay publications such as The Advocate, a biweekly magazine. Ford's move came nearly a week after the Tupelo, Miss.-based American Family Association canceled a boycott of Ford vehicles that began in May, when the group criticized Ford for being too gay-friendly.

Cosmetic surgery product maker said Tuesday its board of directors has concluded that a proposed $3.2 billion takeover bid from Botox maker is superior to an earlier offer it had accepted from …Attorneys for struggling power merchant and some of its bondholders have appealed a judge's decision giving the company until Jan. 22 to return more than $300 million in improperly spent proceeds from the sale of its natural gas supplies to an escrow account. … Submarine builder said Tuesday it would eliminate up to 2,400 jobs, or 20 percent of its work force, by the end of next year. … said Tuesday it named Frederick Henderson vice chairman and chief financial officer effective Jan. 1. Henderson is currently chairman of GM Europe and a GM group vice president.

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