Close to 1,000 laid-off Nortel workers attended a legal seminar hosted by Ottawa employment-law experts Monday night — and many came away saying they got better information there than from Nortel management.

About 6,000 people still work for Nortel at offices and laboratories in Canada.

They and laid-off workers are trying to find out how their pensions and benefits will be affected by the company's efforts to restructure while under bankruptcy protection.

Nortel Networks filed for bankruptcy protection on Jan. 14, protecting the telecommunications technology company from its creditors while it tries to restructure.

One employee, Rayoh Henry, is receiving disability benefits from Nortel. She said the company's human resources department can't answer her questions about what might happen to those payments.

"The company is pretty busy right now, they don't have time to deal with people individually.… You get a response you know probably isn't correct," she said.

Severance cut off

A laid-off worker, Paula Klein, joined Nortel as a co-op student 21 years ago. Now she's looking for work, but her severance pay was cut off when the company filed for bankruptcy shelter.

"I was terminated Dec 12. A lot of us feel very betrayed. It's really hard, there are not a lot jobs," Klein said.

During Monday's seminar, workers like Klein asked about their rights to severance, vacation pay and health benefits. Some wanted to know where they stand if part of Nortel is sold.

There were more questions than answers.

"It's normal to feel a bit insecure, and hopefully the info session can help with that, providing people with info — knowledge — to assist them with this process," said Steven Levitt, an employment lawyer with Nelligan O'Brien Payne.

In a statement released Monday night, Nortel management said the company values the knowledge and talent of its employees, and its goal in the restructuring is to emerge as a more focused and financially sound company.