Obama Administration Tells Defense Contractors Not to Comply with WARN Act in Order to Avoid Layoff Notices Before Election

More government by waiver.  The WARN Act requires companies with 100 or more employees to provide at least 60 days warning before a mass layoff to give the employees fair warning, otherwise they would be in violation of the law and also open to lawsuits from any fired employees themselves.  As defense cuts are currently scheduled to occur on January 2, the WARN act deadline is now right before the election, and Lockheed Martin has said they would have to notify the majority of its 123,000 employees that they are at risk of layoff.  This, of course, has the Obama campaign in a tizzy and they have made the Department of Labor effectively issue a waiver to the WARN act in this instance.  All this despite clearly stating previously that "the Department of Labor, since it has no administrative or enforcement responsibility under WARN, cannot provide specific advice or guidance with respect to individual situations."  Also, when was the last time you saw a government agency tell you which loophole to use to avoid a regulation?:

The WARN Act and regulations also recognize that there may be situations in which an employer cannot give 60 days advance notice. The Act lists three situations in which notice may be given fewer than 60 days before a plant closing or mass layoff will occur. These exceptions are referred to as the faltering company, unforeseeable business circumstances, and natural disaster exceptions. 29 U.S.C. 2102(b). Of these three exceptions, the unforeseeable business circumstances exception is the one that would apply to plant closings or mass layoffs occurring before or in the wake of the potential sequestration on January 2,. The unforeseeable business circumstances exception occurs when "the closing or mass layoff is caused by business circumstances that were not reasonably foreseeable as of the time that notice would have been required." 29 U.S.C. 2102(b)(2).

 

The WARN regulations expand on the definition of unforeseeable business circumstances. Section 639.9(b)(1) states that an important indicator of whether a circumstance was reasonably foreseeable is if it was "caused by some sudden, dramatic, and unexpected action or condition outside the employer's control." 20 C.F.R. 639.9(b)(1).