Courts in Ontario and Delaware gave Nortel Networks permission on Friday to pay retention bonus money to eight senior executives while the company restructures under creditor protection.

Reports indicated the eight executives could receive up to $7.3 million US in bonus money.

The payments are part of a bigger $23-million US incentive program covering 92 staff at the telecommunications company.

Lawyers representing some of the 1,000 workers who were denied severance pay after the company went into creditor protection in January objected Friday to payment of the bonuses to the eight.

A broader bonus-pay plan involving about 900 employees was approved by the court earlier this month, but approval for the retention bonuses for the eight executives, including three staff in Canada and five in the United States, was not part of that decision.

Nortel has said that bonuses are required to help keep staff from defecting while the company is restructuring. The bonuses for the executives are tied to meeting goals such as cost-cutting.

"First of all, it is important to note that the vast majority of employees at all levels are already on a quarterly incentive plan aligned to the short-term goals of company," said Nortel spokesman Mohammed Nakhooda.

"Of those employees, we have identified a few hundred additional individuals to be part of a separate incentive program [including some executives] to ensure that key employees with specific skills and experience remain in place as we deliver on the restructuring," he said in an email.