| Feds Accused Of Blocking Pink-Slip Notifications |
| Jul-31-2012 |
| Keywords: labor department, sequestration, job cuts, layoffs, obama, elections |
The Obama administration may be encouraging federal contractors to not notify workers of possible layoffs in an effort to not negatively impact the president's standing with voters days before the November elections.
On Monday the Labor Department in a letter said, "Although it is currently known that sequestration may occur, it is also known that efforts are being made to avoid sequestration," Labor Department Assistant Secretary Jane Oates said in a letter to state government officials.
The letter is being met with skepticism and shock by some on Capitol Hill. U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) today release a statement, calling into question the Labor Department's motives.
"This decision is especially disturbing in light of the fact that the Department of Labor previously stated in a Fact Sheet that 'since it has no administrative or enforcement responsibility under' the WARN Act, it 'cannot provide specific advice or guidance with respect to individual situations.' Today the Department did just that, issuing guidance to government contractors not to provide their employees advance notification of potential layoffs as a result of sequestration. This is a troubling turnaround that lays bare the obvious political aim of today's announcement - avoiding mass layoff notices just days before the November 6th election."
The 1988 Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) requires contractors to give employees 60 days' notice before mass layoffs or facility closings. Sequestration is expected to result in the loss of 2 million jobs in the defense and non-defense sectors, according to a report by the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University. Because the automatic cuts, if they occur, would begin taking effect Jan. 2, some contractors have said they may issue layoff notices as early as Nov. 2, four days before Election Day, in order to comply with the WARN Act.
The administration is seemingly using a technicality to get around the stinging requirements of the WARN Act.
"To give notice to workers who will not suffer an employment loss both wastes the states' resources in providing rapid response activities where none are needed and creates unnecessary uncertainty and anxiety in workers." Oates said in the letter.
The letter also stated that plant closings or mass layoffs before or in the wake of sequestration would be considered an "unforeseeable business circumstance," one of the exceptions to the 60-day advance notice requirement.
However, the Republican Senators are not buying into the Labor Secretary's rationale.
"At a time when our economy continues to suffer from staggeringly high unemployment, the Obama Administration today took away an important planning tool for Americans who may lose their jobs as a result of the failure of Congress and the White House to address the looming and entirely predictable threat of budget sequestration. Sequestration is currently the law of the land, and our nation's workers have a right to know how these sequestration cuts which begin in January may impact them."
The Senators' statement concluded with a very blunt and pointed challenge to the administration.
"American workers deserve a Congress and a President that puts their interests and our national security over partisan gamesmanship in an election year. Time is running out." |
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Posted by Lou Dobbs Staff at 1:00 PM Email to a friend |
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