Countrywide workers worried about severance: report

(Reuters) - Workers at Countrywide Financial Corp are worried that new owners Bank of America Corp will force them into a position that will cause them to lose their severance benefits, the New York Post reported.

The "Countrywide Change of Control Severance Plan", posted on the company's internal website, says BofA has the power to decide whether it wants to pay severance benefits to an employee who turns down a new position, even if it contains significant changes in compensation or job location, the paper said.

BofA "would consider" paying severance if the employee has to relocate or takes a 20 percent cut in their compensation, the paper said, adding the company would pay severance for lower-level employees if the job comes with a 10 percent cut in salary.

"In lieu of terminating Countrywide employees, BofA is opting to extend token offers of employment that are inferior in every respect to the employees' former positions, without granting these employees the option to be terminated with severance," the paper cited a Countrywide executive in California, who has retained an employment lawyer, as saying.

BofA, which closed its takeover of Countrywide on July 1, said last month it expects to eliminate about 7,500 jobs over the next two years, amounting to three percent of the combined company's workforce.

Angelo Mozilo, who stepped down as Countrywide CEO last week, gave up $37.5 million in severance pay and other fees he stood to gain from the mortgage lender's sale to BofA.

BofA could not be immediately reached for comment.

(Reporting by Ajay Kamalakaran in Bangalore; editing by Sue Thomas)