Thursday, October 10, 2013
Message from the LLNL Director
LLNL Update: Lapse in federal appropriations
Message from the Director
As of today, there is no resolution regarding the lapse in federal appropriations impacting the Laboratory. As directed by NNSA, we have made, and continue to refine, plans for a safe and orderly shutdown of all but essential operations.
As I stated in my previous Newsline message, our guiding principle is to minimize the impact to our workforce while delivering on our national missions as long as possible. We now can share the path forward.
During the week of Oct. 13, we will be expending three of our FY14 planned holidays in order to keep employees on paid status through the week. Those holidays are the spring holiday (previously scheduled for April 21); the President’s Day holiday (previously scheduled for Feb. 17); and the New Year’s Eve holiday (previously scheduled for Dec. 31, 2013)...
On Tuesday, Oct. 15 and Wednesday, Oct. 16, employees will be working to place the Laboratory in a minimum safe and secure operational status. Upon completion of this task, each employee is instructed to take the remaining time to catch up on institutional training courses and complete any outstanding performance appraisal activities.
Labwide project/task numbers will be provided for these activities and time card guidance will follow shortly.
Beginning Oct. 17, Laboratory operations will be extremely limited, except where consistent with protecting human life, property and the environment. Only those personnel previously notified as required to meet these objectives will be allowed on site. Programmatic organization or administrative line supervisors will notify those employees and subcontractors who will be working during the shutdown and providing their respective schedules.
NNSA has asked the Laboratory to initiate an orderly shutdown in support of minimum safe and secure operations no later than Oct. 21, and to maintain that status until Nov. 1. However, due to limited financial reserves, the Laboratory will initiate safe and secure operations beginning Oct. 15. NNSA will provide additional guidance should the lapse in appropriations continue past Nov. 1. The Laboratory has developed a list of critical personnel who will continue to report to work, but all other employees will be furloughed (leave without pay – LWOP). At this time, we have not received permission from DOE/NNSA to use accrued vacation in lieu of LWOP. We will communicate NNSA’s decision as soon as it becomes available.
As you may know, the decision to raise the debt ceiling is currently being debated in Washington, D.C. It is important to understand that if the President and Congress agree to raise the debt ceiling without agreeing to a FY14 federal budget, then the schedule above remains in place.
If a budget is passed between now and Nov. 1, we will communicate a return-to-work schedule. It is extremely important that each employee sign-up for TxtWire and take note that they also can call (925) xxx-LLNL for updated information.
I realize this uncertain situation is difficult on a personal level and may lead to hardship for many employees. I will continue to do my best to update you with the latest information as it becomes available. Human Resources and Public Affairs continue to develop FAQs to address the many valid and important questions you have. You can find the current FAQs on the internal LLNL website .
Addressing this challenging situation remains our highest priority, and we are continuing to work to minimize the impacts on staff to the extent possible. I expect this lack of federal appropriations will be resolved in the days and weeks ahead. Until then, I ask that each of you be vigilant to ensure the safety of yourselves, your colleagues, and your family under these stressful circumstances.
Parney Albright
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40 comments:
Time for those who are close to retirement to retire and those that are sick of this crap to find a new job. What I want to know is what if congress and the senate don't pass anything until Jan 1, 2014. I'm assuming everyone will LWOP until the budget is passed, correct?
Okay... back to the issue at hand...
Someone in HR needs to tell DOE to check California laws.
From the California Dept of Industrial Relations - www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_Vacation.htm
"Under California law, earned vacation time is considered wages, and vacation time is earned, or vests, as labor is performed. For example, if an employee is entitled to two weeks (10 work days) of vacation per year, after six months of work he or she will have earned five days of vacation. Vacation pay accrues (adds up) as it is earned, and cannot be forfeited, even upon termination of employment, regardless of the reason for the termination. (Suastez v. Plastic Dress Up (1982) 31 C3d 774) An employer can place a reasonable cap on vacation benefits that prevents an employee from earning vacation over a certain amount of hours. (Boothby v. Atlas Mechanical (1992) 6 Cal.App.4th 1595) And, unless otherwise stipulated by a collective bargaining agreement, upon termination of employment all earned and unused vacation must be paid to the employee at his or her final rate of pay. Labor Code Section 227.3 "
So employees with vacation on the books have already earned it (and the dollar amount it translates into). If every LLNS employee quit next week, LLNS would owe them millions of dollars in vacation (past wages), regardless of the federal budget mess.
Forcing employees to take Leave Without Pay, when said employees are already legally owed "back wages" (ie. vacation) is illegal in California.
Forcing employees to take Leave Without Pay, when said employees are already legally owed "back wages" (ie. vacation) is illegal in California.
October 10, 2013 at 9:53 PM
Could you please cite the law, the passage you quote did not discuss this important point.
Now as they suck the rest of the party into the vortex, their colleagues will have to decide whether they really want to go along for the ride.
October 10, 2013 at 9:03 PM
You mean a ride to a better country instead of socialism and dictatorship where it actually pays off it's debt and doesn't sell the country to China in the name of welfare, free medical for all and cater to parasites. Yes, I hope the socialist democratic party is destroyed forever.
Do you realize how pathetic Lab employees are? Do you real seriuosly think you will keep your pay, your benifits your pension, your soul when this is done? Are you people that apathetic to what's going on? Do you not understand that your paycheck comes from the US.government via the tax payer? You are on a form of welfare but to ignorant to acknowledge. Can you not comprehend your pay check then comes from China? Do you not understand your that US sovereignty is now gone? The US cannot make a move without having creditor approval first. The debt based society is crashing and you mice have been warned for years and now it is here. The cheese is not yours you consumed it 50 years ago it is a mirage. I am sorry this is real life not dancing with the stars. Take the rose colored glasses off. So yes, I am creepy because I get off on seeing the lab mice struggle. It is a form of cheap entertainment for me. The end is nigh. Just maybe now you can generate enough spark from your brain to acknowledge and prepare because it's over.
To the comment on October 10, 2013 at 9:53 PM:
Not everyone would rather take vacation instead of LWOP. I would rather keep my vacation and cash in on it at the higher pay when I leave this place. Besides, if there's retro pay (although not very likely) it is easier to deal with the books if you had not taken any pay at all. You might even be able to claim unemployment if this shutdown lasts long enough and there is no retro pay. I don't think you could do any of these things if you take vacation pay, because vacation is not unemployment.
NBC/WSJ poll: Shutdown debate damages GOP
By Mark Murray, Senior Political Editor, NBC News
October 10, 2013
The Republican Party has been badly damaged in the ongoing government shutdown and debt limit standoff, with a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finding that a majority of Americans blame the GOP for the shutdown, and with the party’s popularity declining to its lowest level.
By a 22-point margin (53 percent to 31 percent), the public blames the Republican Party more for the shutdown than President Barack Obama – a wider margin of blame for the GOP than the party received during the poll during the last shutdown in 1995-96.
Obama – with a 47 percent favorable, 41 percent unfavorable rating – also is the most popular political figure or institution in the poll, surpassing the Democratic Party (39 percent favorable/40 percent unfavorable); Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas (14 percent favorable/28 percent unfavorable); Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (18 percent favorable/32 percent unfavorable); and House Speaker John Boehner (17 percent favorable/42 percent unfavorable).
At the bottom of the list are the Tea Party (21 percent favorable/47 percent unfavorable) and the Republican Party (24 percent favorable/53 percent unfavorable) – their lowest favorable numbers in the history of the poll.
And 46 percent of respondents say the president, during this budget standoff, has been a strong leader and is standing up for what he believes in, versus 51 percent who believe he’s putting his own political agenda ahead of what’s good for the country.
By comparison, a whopping 70 percent say congressional Republicans are putting politics first.
Such a clever solution! In one fell swoop it trumps 95% of the FAQs about vacation, how do I know this, how do I know that, what if, what if not. That alone should save millions of dollars. Clever, very clever, and no management fees were compromised in the act. Clever, very Clever.
Hey..take a chill pill.
This is not all Republicans.
I could talk for days about shady Harry Reid and some of the things that he has done.
But it is not a good thing to have this double standard that Liberals can do and say almost anything (ala Alec Baldwin smearing gays or Bill Maher using the c word).
So pull your head out of your you know what and just try, I know it is hard but try to see that there is plenty of blame to go around for everyone.
Oh! including the one the media protects, we all know what I am talking about.
California law does not require employers to provide vacation, and when vacation is offered, the employer may regulate its use in any way it sees fit, so long as vacation time is not allocated in a discriminatory fashion (e.g., race, gender, etc.). Thus, LLNS is free to mandate use of vacation during the shutdown, or mandate LWOP. Vacation is generally, deferred wages for services performed, not a bargain for future services. If there is a shutdown, then no services are authorized and vacation time can be used but only at management's discretion. The priciple statute on vacation is illegal forfeiture upon termination. Employers may not deny a cash out of unused vacation time at termination.
Keep in mind that 90-95% of the news media vote democratic, and that the media is too ideological to even acknowledge this as a potential source of bias (let alone the lack of diversity in their ranks). This says something about the credibility of short-term public perceptions that are often based on the terse headlines or soundbites people read or hear in the news. Also, according to a recent AP poll, Obama's approval rating has dropped to 37%. Needless to say, the "objective" media elected not to widely publicize this result.
Not everyone would rather take vacation instead of LWOP. I would rather keep my vacation and cash in on it at the higher pay when I leave this place. ...
I agree. Also, using vacation at the end of Laboratory employment can significantly add to TCP1 pension benefits. An average employee with 20+ plus years of service gets an extra $20K in lifetime pension benefits if he/she maxes out their vacation (48 days) and takes the actual vacation instead of the lump sum payment when leaving the Lab. For example, instead of terminating on January 1 and cashing out the accrued vacation as a lump sum, terminate 2 1/2 months later by taking vacation from January 1 through the middle of March. One still gets the vacation pay, except that it is distributed over 2 1/2 months instead of given all at once. More importantly, this increases the age factor, service credit, and HAPC. Free money.
@October 11, 2013 at 10:51 AM:
Clever, very Clever.
Make them use their vacation for the next few months until this all blows over. Bring them back 1/12/2014 if they have a budget. Time to make cuts where they have to make cuts. $17T to pay back and 10X that much in unfunded liabilities. Cuts, cuts cuts.
Oh my goodness! To hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth, the agony. One would think you guys had just blown a walk-and-talk. Anyone with a pulse saw this coming 21 years ago, and made the appropriate economic choice then.
I wouldn't be too hard on the "Bitter" comment earlier. At least they didn't call LLNL the biggest whorehouse in Livermore, or how it's safer not to acknowledge that you worked at LLNL when interviewing locally. I guess it's all perception after all.
Good for morale.
"For example, instead of terminating on January 1 and cashing out the accrued vacation as a lump sum, terminate 2 1/2 months later by taking vacation from January 1 through the middle of March. One still gets the vacation pay, except that it is distributed over 2 1/2 months instead of given all at once. More importantly, this increases the age factor, service credit, and HAPC. Free money."
LOL! I see you've put some thought into tinkering with the system. If you have vacation time saved up when about to retire that certainly is the way to do it. Of course, building up 48 days of vacation leave (=2 1/2 months) in your example is equivalent to going without vacation for 2 years. So that big bank of 48 days of vacation does come at a price.
POS signing off
Debt = slavery
October 11, 2013 at 4:08 PM
You're not only a POS, you are FOS.
WTF, It is obviuos that a nerve has been hit. Your mind is clutered with government propoganda hence the reason for your employment at the lab. Without the lab someone like you would be pushing a shopping cart full science books in downtown Livermore. I am sorry your lifes work means absolutley nothing to anybody but yourself. Pride destroyed many a man I guess your no different.
My house did loose any value either it is worth one hudred billion dollars. And I can get a job any where making twice as much. But I digress.
If Scientist and engineers are doing so well and are as smart as you say they are explain the condition of the lab. You can't because I already know the answer "more money" Without more purse it dies and here we are today. NASA should be abolised as with the Lab.
POS
October 12, 2013 at 6:48 AM:
I hope you are single with no immediate family. If not, I hope they have an escape plan when you finally go postal. Or perhaps they've already escaped. In any case, please do not breed.
"October 12, 2013 at 6:48 AM"
Please get help now you are seriously deranged
"October 12, 2013 at 6:48 AM"
To the forum Moderator,
This person has brought absolutely no helpful information to this blog and has done nothing but cause hateful flames and disruption.
I ask that you ban this person from this blog, and I would suggest it be a lifetime ban.
Kill the one who speaks the truth. Geobblels and the Nazi youth would have loved you. You will fit right in as AmeriKa turns to Stalanism. Good job!!!
POS
What a sad, pathetic, bitter person. I would have sympathy, but POS is so vile and repugnant in his hatred of all things that it is impossible to. I would, however, like to relate my own story as an example. I’m not sure how representative it is, because this is not the type of conversation that I have with my co-workers, but it might be.
I am a Ph.D. scientist who works at the lab. Been there for about 15 years. Make a decent salary and enjoy my work because it is both exciting and important to the national interest. Are there things I would change about the lab? Absolutely. But, overall, it is a good place to work, with good projects and good co-workers. I wouldn’t say I would never leave the lab, but, for now, I am comfortable. If, for some reason, I am forced to or choose to leave the place, I am in a very good position to get another job.
Earning a doctorate was an awesome move. Having a Ph.D. allows me to get a stable, high-paying job that allows me to be creative and direct my own work, rather than just being a peon. As someone earlier indicated, I don’t have any student loans from that because, in the sciences, they actually pay you to get a degree. I did have some loans from my undergraduate college, but those were relatively small and I paid them off a long time ago. I am a couple of years into a 15 year refi. I actually could pay off the mortgage tomorrow, if I had to. My house, like all houses in the country, lost value during the recent downturn, but I was never under water, and it has since increased past its peak.
I also realize that government does important things, things that I am willing to pay for. To quote a document that many of us know by heart (POS might have to google it): the government exists to “establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity…” In any case, more than just funding the military. As an example, that iPhone that many of us have, and that POS is probably still saving up for, exists because of government funded research like the Internet, GPS, touch-screen technology, batteries, etc. But these are long-term things that require risk and thinking about a problem for a decent amount of time, not instant gratification that POS needs every time he soils his diaper.
I get satisfaction in life by setting goals and trying to meet them. I don’t really spend much time comparing myself to others, but it is my wish that everyone around me, from the taxi driver taking me to the airport to the woman serving me coffee, do well and be able to support their family. POS seems to spend his life comparing dick size with everyone and coming up short.
As they say, living well is the best revenge.
Why don't you post on the Tea Party site? I'm sure your wit would be appreciated by Bubba and Cruz.
PHD,
What happens when the government controls 60% of the economy? The whole Constition is about 16 pages and the document is the rule book of what the government can't do. It is not a rule book to limit its citizens. Per the constitution each state is to have its form of representative government to establish laws. Federalism won in the civil war which expand power over the states. The final nail in the coffin of the states happened in 1913 when the admendment was passed for the populas of the state is allowed to vote for the senators instead of the states legislative body.The government you support and sing praise to has about 200,000 pages of rules and regulation and growing.
PHD you live off the Amerikan tax payer the same as the lady who gets the obama phone for free. If that is all you have from a PHD get your money back and and burn that piece of paper.
POS
I left the lab nearly 10 years ago before the first RIF. I am happy that I did so. I feel my new job is far more stable and I feel much more appreciated now. However, I still have many friends at the lab. They are brilliant scientists and have their own reasons for wanting to stay. I wish them no ill will and am really sad to see them potentially suffer (depending on how this works out - I think I will be jealous in a few month hoping they get retro pay and wind up with a vacation on the govt.)
Anonymous said...
"October 12, 2013 at 6:48 AM"
" To the forum Moderator,
This person has brought absolutely no helpful information to this blog and has done nothing but cause hateful flames and disruption.
I ask that you ban this person from this blog, and I would suggest it be a lifetime ban.
October 12, 2013 at 9:12 AM"
Look it is a blog and anyone can post including the mentally ill. You can just ignore the crazy posts. The moderator does a good job in starting new threads. They usually start off well and then decay in quality and the moderator starts a new one to keep the quality up. That is about as good as you can be without throwing out too many posts.
Rule #1 of Internet forums is "Don't feed the troll". He's just a lonely person looking for attention. Worst thing you can do is to respond to him. Best thing you can do is to ignore him.
The mentally ill can post, sure. But to expect people to ignore his aggressive and hateful posts is unrealistic. He will draw responses, both moderate and not so. That doesn't indicate anything on the part of the responders except humaneness, and humanity. If this self-styled "POS" were to confront me personally, I would respond appropiately, and he would seriously regret his transgression. Unfortunately, the internet provides anonymity to his ilk, so no one is able to correct his sociopathic behavior. I just hope he gets help before he hurts someone.
NSA, are you listening? This guy needs to be watched.
What happens on travel......hmmmmm
Is it true that the LLNL security organization has its own version of Tomas?
To Ph.D., loved your post, it made my morning.
"If this self-styled "POS" were to confront me personally, I would respond appropiately, and he would seriously regret his transgression. Unfortunately, the internet provides anonymity to his ilk."
I notice your anonymous staements I guess that don't count because your so brave and righteous.
I hope more of the public would find out about this web site and let them judge for themselves and see how their money is wasted on educated personnel.
Let us not forget every month at the lab there is some type of heritage being celebrated or some sodmite month celebration. Wow! how fun is that? Every other day there is some type of pizza party. Let's all join hands.
POS
Don't worry everyone, we'll take care of the POS guy/gal. That's why we have our special abduction package !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZAVjDI2E7M
Outstanding song and all so true. Who knows it could go for months.
LLNL must have very little FY13 carryover. We here at LANL are allowed to use accrued vacation during the shutdown and are being paid for project work til the end of the week. Looks to me like you are losing holidays to do programmatic work this week.
LLNL must have very little FY13 carryover. We here at LANL are allowed to use accrued vacation during the shutdown...
October 15, 2013 at 8:26 AM
The swirl in the bottom of the bowl may be a little different, but the final destination is the same.
Abduct this!!!!
POS
What a waste of time all this was folks. The "can is getting kicked down the road" just before the deadline. Come on folks, haven't you learned yet for the last how many years?
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