Please post anon:
Rumor control central hits a soft spot today at LLNL for a few with their ears open.
It looks as if LLNS in a most creative way has found an ingenious means of informing everyone of who ( is ) or ( is not ) eligible for the VSSOP and also who (is) or ( is not ) eligible for the involuntary separation. Your notification will be done through LAPIS and internal web page whereby they can hide their dirty deeds from the public and from their employees. In other words you'll never know what classification or quantity of any particular classification they want to thin out. Yes they are treating their employees like mushrooms whereby they keep them in the dark and feed them bullhockey dopes with arsenic.
Each employee will be required to log onto LAPIS and check their "status" of eligibility. When you log on there will be a simple status of something like ( yes or no ). I have not been informed of the exact chosen words, but here's the jest. If your status says ( YES ), not only are you eligible for the VSSOP but you're automatically eligible for the ( involuntary separation programs ) what ever acronym they chose for that event. If your status is ( no ) or some other chosen words you are ineligible for either ( RIF program ) and you're safe for the _next nine months_ or until the next budget crunch FY-09.
But here's the twist that no one counted on. If you're in NIF you're exempt for both the ( voluntary and involuntary separation ) until further notice. Then from another good source I heard this wasn't entirely true. There are a few that will be asked to leave. On what boat they'll be able to depart with honor and dignity I haven't a clue. Remember NIF, you have a nine month reprieve. There will be down sizing next year and ever year afterwards until they too have the selected few who'll remain gainfully employed.
That's all for now folks. Anyone else heard any rumors or facts they'd like to share?
31 comments:
I was told a 2/12 decide by date and 2/29 departure. Can anyone confirm/deny?
You mean you have until 2/12 to decide if you're going to take the VSSOP and then once you do you'll be gone by 2/29 ? They're not wasting any time are they. I guess that's so if they don't get the 730 people required to balance the budget they still have time to break out that FTE list of unwanted people and get their departure papers ready by April whereby they too will get the boot.
"If your status says ( YES ), not only are you eligible for the VSSOP but you're automatically eligible for the ( involuntary separation programs )"
Does this mean, if you qualify for the voluntary separation and you dont take it, you will be laid off anyway or just become a good target?
Also, when do the LAPIS updates take place?
2/29 is a magic date. It is a payday for non-exempts, and the pay on that date will include the raise. If they miss that date, it will mean an extra payroll action for those who separate.
Remember, write your Congressman and complain that our buyout is less than LANL's. If this gets delayed at all, it's a problem to ULM.
Nice report. Thanks.
How or where do you apply?
How long do you have to renege?
How do you know if you are in the chosen group where the numbers are limited?
If you are in NIF and get canned in the giant layoff now planned for 9/30/08, do you still get a shot at the current layoff pay policy or does the new one with only one-month severance apply?
a thought. Facing an major layoff in September, why would NIF personnel rush to finish the job? to rush out the door?
Just asking.
What a wonderful environment to work in !!! Does voluntary separation mean you will get some sort of reward for volunteering? Like perhaps 1 week of pay for each year you have worked there??
I have a new mission to persue. In April there will be a meeting somewhere in Livermore given by the UC to review with us the proposed agreement UC will have with DOE regarding our retirement. The date/time/place has not been set yet. The UC newsletter only mentioned that it will be a review of how DOE will reimburse UC when necessary when our (LLNL) pool of money has fallen below 100% of funding. HOWEVER I know that tucked into that agreement will be an agreement to allow DOE to have their say whether or not UCRP/LLNL retirees will get a cost of living adjustment.
I WILL BE THERE TO BRING THIS UP AND TAKE A STAND THAT WE DO NOT WANT DOE TO HAVE THAT AUTHORITY BECAUSE, OF COURSE, IT WILL MEAN THAT THERE WILL BE YEARS - AND PLENTY OF THEM - IN WHICH DOE SAYS NO TO OUR COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENT.
They think they can pass this by us without a word, but oh no, I will be there to give them a few of my words and make everyone in that room aware and to hopefully put a stop to it. They already accomplished this wording with LANL UC retirees.
January 29, 2008 8:35 PM
Becasue they have a job to do and they'll do it well regardless of what's on the horizon. It's a matter of self respect and pride. It has no bearing if they are going to get RIF'd at the end of the project or not and there's no place to go. That's quality people.
In case you haven't been paying attention to how this went down at LANL and elsewhere, that's pretty much been the drill.
Once they announce and start the clock it's a week to declare, followed by a week to renege, followed by a week for them to figure out who's going and inform them, and then a week to get them out the door.
Thanks for playing. Until next time.
The schedule will be tight if they want to end it before the end of February.
Does anyone know the details of the process at LANL, beyond the schedule?
Did they apply on the web (something similar to the LAPIS rumor) or did they have to apply in person?
How were they notified of acceptance or denial?
Were any people who thought they were eligible turned down?
In response to 8:52, I went looking and found this:
DoE has clearly acknowledged its responsibility for the benefits due to the retained segment and has committed to a specific funding mechanism in the event of a shortfall; this provides assurance to the retained segment that their benefits will be paid in full. DoE does retain the right, however, to approve or disapprove of ad hoc COLAs that go beyond the contractually guaranteed COLAs in UCRP. If DoE were to decline to approve an ad hoc COLA instituted by UCRP for non-LLNL, non-LANL members of UCRP, only the members in those retained segments (former LLNL and LANL employees) would be affected.
This is from:
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/jan08/f10attach2.pdf
For all to read.
UC Regents Notice
Looks like this VSSOP will be offered this week. If it is a maximum of 26 weeks pay to give up our jobs, that is not a good offer. Our cost of living is higher here in the Bay Area and Central Valley area than in New Mexico, so why did LANL employees receive a maximum 39 weeks of pay to give up their job ? Does anyone know if the LLNL employees that do decide to take this low VSSOP offer qualify to receive unemployment benefits while looking for another job ?
The cost of living is higher here, but so is the likelihood of finding new employment in this area.
Welcome to the real world! 26 weeks severance pay is a luxury in the corporate world! Besides, most potential VSSOPers are close to retirement anyway and were just holding out to get the severance pay.
Greed!
"The cost of living is higher here, but so is the likelihood of finding new employment in this area."
That's entirely correct. If you lose employment with LANL in Los Alamos, it's almost a certainty that you'll have to relocate to find suitable employment. One reason for the additional severance.
What the heck takes the people so long to announce the VSSOP. Do you think they'll get it done today so people who work an AWS schedule will know before Monday or put it off until after 2/5/08 as if who wins the primaries is going to make a difference to corporate giants. The greed will continue flow into their pockets no matter who gets to be President.
There is a considerable amount of information that must be provided by law. See ADEA and OWBPA, for example. Just how they distribute the information is variable, but it's highly doubtful that they can simply say you're eligible or not, and then ask for a decision. Part of the delay in all this is getting all this info organized in order to avoid legal actions.
January 30, 2008 7:59 PM
A major ULM concern of the VSSOP is that it will attract the top-notch young talent as it did in 1996. Many of the older folks are double dippers who plan on working for a year or two, in some cases almost doubling their salaries. They have less incentive to leave than is at first obvious. Besides, the buyout will not give them their TCP2 match.
"...Welcome to the real world! 26 weeks severance pay is a luxury in the corporate world!..."
Not true. Not for professionals. Schlumberger offers 6 months, and another six months if you sign an agreement not to compete, sue or blather.
Remember, some of you got game. Let's see the confident chosen take the money and walk a $20M year Program over to SAIC, Booz or back to mother Battelle.
DOE is ghetto. In DC, they don't cast a shadow. They are what they are, as useful as AMTRAK and the USPS.
"...Welcome to the real world! 26 weeks severance pay is a luxury in the corporate world!..."
Also, it has not yet been approved by the Lost Boyz of Forrestal.
Not enough hand jobs.
"Nice thing about quality people is they know when they are being sweet talked while someone is reaching down their drawers."
They at NIF all know their days are numbered and what you said in this quote is true but as it's been said before, this will not stop the employees of NIF from doing a good job and getting it done on time. The people at NIF are inheritably the best LLNL has to offer and understand that coming to work in the morning means you actually are required to do work and accomplish the mission, whereby many on the outside of NIF have no self motivation, spend their days assuming that it's someone else responsibility to find them work; and then when put on the EBA list say they've been unjustly fingered and discriminated against. Many have come to NIF and found themselves unable to accept the work ethics. The end result was they were sent back to their parent organization where once again they could cruise the utopia of a stress free environment.
The fact that Moses doesn't tolerate people being a slouch or accept parasite into his organization is what makes him a leader. If Moses wasn't going to retire after NIF's completion he'd be the next director of LLNL without a doubt and it would be God help you if you got on his radar screen. He's as close to a corporate CEO as one can get in a government organization that doesn't make a profit and for this he has gain many peoples respect even though in the process he anger some with his schedules, but, they must be met if funding is to continue. Understanding that, the people in NIF are in fact the very reason it stays funded and are part of what makes it a success.
February 1, 2008 8:24 AM
You have been on the NIF kool-aid too long...
February 1, 2008 8:24 AM,
You are quite arrogant with this crap about "The people at NIF are inheritably the best LLNL has to offer".
You are also clueless, as shown from your line about "the utopia of a stress free environment" at the rest of the lab.
Stop waving your NIF flag, honestly. What an embarrassment.
February 1, 2008 10:26 AM
I've to have been all over that institution of LLNL for decades and never before have I seen a more organized place with a group of enthusiastic employees. After jumping into NIF involuntarily I'm very happy having been divorced from what I thought was the better side. It's a shame that in 2010 the greatest part of NIF will be done and many good people will be displace especially since there will never be a project at LLNL of the scale or magnitude again. NIF is the last great LLNL project will ever see. Everything else from this day forward will always be back seat and be minuscule in comparison, and above all irrelevant. I expect someday the rest of the lab will be fenced off from the NIF complex and NIF will have their owe entrance and exit gates.
I think what most of you NON-NIFFER don't understand is that if it wasn't for NIF most of you would be unemployed since NIF most likely provides about 60% of your income and funding. So keep talking trash about NIF and enjoy the ride because in 2010 many of you too are going to find yourself heading out the gate with personal affect in hand.
Nope. There will be NIF, Homeland Security and the Supercomputer. The rest will be subcontracted support personnel and small short term projects managed by Bechtel with dead-lines requiring end results. If these results are unsatisfactory it will mean the end of those projects too. The most any one group of people can hope for in the future are projects that are on a year to year basis with a two year project being considered a long term project.
Comment edited and re-published to white out a real name; please do not address people by name!
"..Becasue they have a job to do and they'll do it well regardless of what's on the horizon. It's a matter of self respect and pride. It has no bearing if they are going to get RIF'd at the end of the project or not and there's no place to go. That's quality people..."
(name deleted) , are you lookin in again and plying us with your lies? THIS RESPONSE IS Manipulative bullshit by someone who knows his efforts won't get him canned. A real Cornell-sized hypocrit.
Nice thing about quality people is they know when they are being sweet talked while someone is reaching down their drawers.
Hide your wallets folks.
February 1, 2008 1:12 AM
Lab's 3161 Specific Plan Approved
NNSA approval has just been received for the Laboratory's specific workforce restructuring plan, which includes a voluntary self-selection option program (VSSOP).
Details will be announced to all employees on Monday, Feb. 4, in a 10:30 a.m. all-hands meeting in Bldg. 123. In addition to Bldg. 123, employees will be able to view the live presentation from the auditoriums in Bldgs. 155, 453 and 543 and will have the ability to ask questions live, via a remote call-in.
The meeting also will be broadcast via Laboratory TV, channel 2. Program specifics will be available to all employees on Monday afternoon via the MyLLNL portal.
From: Public Affairs Office
Subject: LAB'S 3161 SPECIFIC PLAN APPROVED
Lab's 3161 Specific Plan Approved
NNSA approval has just been received for the Laboratory's specific workforce restructuring plan, which includes a voluntary self-selection option program (VSSOP).
Details will be announced to all employees on Monday, Feb. 4, in a 10:30 a.m. all-hands meeting in Bldg. 123. In addition to Bldg. 123, employees will be able to view the live presentation from the auditoriums in Bldgs. 155, 453 and 543 and will have the ability to ask questions live, via a remote call-in.
The meeting also will be broadcast via Laboratory TV, channel 2. Program specifics will be available to all employees on Monday afternoon via the MyLLNL portal.
OK. Where's the headlines???
LLNL 3161 site specific plan has been approved. Miller to hold All Hands Meeting @ 10:30, Monday, 02/04/08 to present details.
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