WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.  — OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma should be prohibited from giving $38 million in employee payouts as it goes through bankruptcy, attorneys general from 24 states said in a court filing Thursday.

Purdue has said it needs to make bonus payments to keep employees and maintain operations at a time of high turnover, which also is requiring the company to provide severance packages for employees heading to the exits.

A government bankruptcy trustee objected to the request last week, and the bankruptcy judge has scheduled an upcoming hearing on the issue. Purdue filed for bankruptcy protection last month as it tries to settle 2,600 lawsuits against it over the toll of the nation’s opioid crisis.

Members of the billionaire Sackler family, which owns Purdue, also are trying to use the bankruptcy process to halt the roughly two dozen lawsuits they face in state courts.

In a statement, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein blasted the idea of the company paying bonuses.

“Multi-billionaires who are giving millions in bonuses to their employees are the opposite of bankrupt,” he said. “The Sacklers have extracted billions out of Purdue for their own financial profit and thrown what remains of the company into bankruptcy. Now their company wants to give millions of dollars from what’s left of Purdue to Purdue executives. That’s outrageous.”