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Obama Admin bribing defense contractors not to issue lay-off notices in October [Darleen Click]

A little quid pro quo prior to election

The White House moved to prevent defense and other government contractors from issuing mass layoff notices in anticipation of sequestration, even going so far to say that the contracting agencies would cover any potential litigation costs or employee compensation costs that could follow.

Some defense companies—including Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems and EADS North America—have said they expect to send notices to their employees 60 days before sequestration takes effect to comply with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires companies to give advance warning to workers deemed reasonably likely to lose their jobs. Companies appeared undeterred by a July 30 guidance from the Labor Department, which said issuing such notices would be inappropriate, due to the possibility that sequestration may be averted. The Labor Department also said companies do not have enough information about how the cuts might be implemented to determine which workers or specific programs could be affected should Congress fail to reach a compromise to reduce the deficit, triggering $1.2 trillion in spending cuts, half from defense, half non-defense. For 2013, that would amount to $109 billion in spending cuts.

So the Office of Management and Budget went a step further in guidance issued late Friday afternoon. If an agency terminates or modifies a contract, and the contractor must close a plant or lay off workers en masse, the company could treat employee compensation costs for WARN Act liability, attorneys’ fees and other litigation costs as allowable costs to be covered by the contracting agency—so long as the contractor has followed a course of action consistent with the Labor Department’s guidance. The legal fees would be covered regardless of the outcome of the litigation, according to the OMB guidance issued by Daniel Werfel, controller of the Office of Federal Financial Management, and Joseph Jordan, the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy.

18 Replies to “Obama Admin bribing defense contractors not to issue lay-off notices in October [Darleen Click]”

  1. cranky-d says:

    So, the government is going to provide the funds to pay the fines they impose on the contractors for non-compliance with regulations written by the government.

    You couldn’t make this stuff up.

  2. Darleen says:

    yep … guidelines that are supposed to save taxpayer money but using taxpayer money to payoff those in non-compliance …

    the mind.it boggles

  3. Bribing them with public funds? Where could they have gotten such an idea?

    Note, this just shows how much they care — about themselves. Everyone still gets laid off, they just don’t get the official notice until after the election.

    Does this stuff actually work?

  4. cranky-d says:

    Obama will spin this as a good thing, because he knows that they will have a new budget in place in time to avoid sequestration and therefore the unnecessary firing of these employees, even though they haven’t actually signed a budget into law since Obama took office.

  5. @PurpAv says:

    The Obama administration has problems paying its bill at restaurants. Any govt contractor who believes this promise is retarded and should never be hired again.

  6. […] COMMENT OF THE DAY: At Protein Wisdom: So, the government is going to provide the funds to pay the fines they impose on the contractors […]

  7. […] the government is going to provide the funds to pay the fines they impose on the contractors for non-compliance with regulations written by the […]

  8. […] via Obama Admin bribing defense contractors not to issue lay-off notices in October [Darleen Click] | pr…. […]

  9. […] Cranky D’s utterly devastating comment over at Protein Wisdom: So, the government is going to provide the funds to pay the fines they impose on the contractors for non-compliance with regulations written by the government. […]

  10. palaeomerus says:

    They ought to have the administration pay for the expected fines IN ADVANCE then. Plus a convenience fee. Y’know, to help start a solar power manufacturing company at some future date. WINK WINK.

  11. palaeomerus says:

    I’m writing a folk song:

    In paradise
    every one drives tiny
    unsafe
    unreliable
    expensive
    cars they never wanted.

    Unless they are stuck with bikes and busses.

    In paradise
    they’ll toss you to an angry mob
    to keep them from
    burning down
    the capitol
    because someone
    shot someone
    because they
    didn’t want to get brained.

    In paradise
    they’ll make gas out of your food
    until you can’t afford it
    and the lights
    will flicker
    the water bills will triple
    and they won’t let
    you use it
    unless you have a permit

    In paradise.

    It’s like detroit but you can’t leave.
    Thank God its paradise.

  12. […] in October via sda We Can't Have any Bad News First comment at — take on gov't bribery.So, the government is going to provide the funds to pay the fines they impose on the contractors for non-compliance […]

  13. cranky-d says:

    I’m basking in my new-found very tiny bit of fame.

  14. LBascom says:

    I hear Althouse refers to you as a mangy cat.

    Could be worse. You could be an old cowboy…

  15. serr8d says:

    LoLBascom!

  16. cranky-d says:

    I do not have mange!

Comments are closed.