In 2021, in terms of long term job security, what does it really mean to be a so called a LLNS “Career Indefinite employee” vs. a “Supplemental Labor” employee in practice given LLNS employment actions?
Tri-Valley Cares needs to be on this if they aren't already. We need to make sure that NNSA and LLNL does not make good on promises to pursue such stupid ideas as doing Plutonium experiments on NIF. The stupidity arises from the fact that a huge population is placed at risk in the short and long term. Why do this kind of experiment in a heavily populated area? Only a moron would push that kind of imbecile area. Do it somewhere else in the god forsaken hills of Los Alamos. Why should the communities in the Bay Area be subjected to such increased risk just because the lab's NIF has failed twice and is trying the Hail Mary pass of doing an SNM experiment just to justify their existence? Those Laser EoS techniques and the people analyzing the raw data are all just BAD anyways. You know what comes next after they do the experiment. They'll figure out that they need larger samples. More risk for the local population. Stop this imbecilic pursuit. They wan...
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Under UC, career employees had a legal “vested property interest” in their job due to the fact they were state employees. Basically, they could only be fired for cause, including funding reductions, and the LLNL policies and procedures had to be followed in employment actions or the employee could sue for damages. Sort of like tenure, and there was even a few cases where UC pushed back on DOE because the LLNL staff also had arguable rights of academic freedom — google Jessica Stern.
Supplemental labor was a means to circumvent that property interest for short-term projects. Some people were on SL status for years, so it was clearly being abused under UC, but when the Director had to sign off on hiring a 500-series tech (at some times), what do you do?
With the contract transition, the vested property interest vanished. Career indefinite basically transformed to mean “we intend to keep you and if your assignment ends, we will us the EBA (Employees Between Assignments) process to reassign you. Supplemental labor transitioned to limited duration appointments, so at the end of the period you’re done — unless the duration is extended by mutual agreement.
Both career and SL/LD appointments are different than staff augmentation, which is a contract with an external entity to provide personnel for short-term and/or highly specialized but transitory staffing needs.
Becoming an EIT or EBA while trying to acquire a new assignment is a tricky proposition. For example, if you are a 300 series employee and only identify a 500 series programmatically funded assignment, you may be expected to take the assignment, and subsequently have your classification and salary reduced to that of a 500 series employee. I know someone this happened to. Therefore being placed into EIT or EBA status has a potential punitive feature. Hiring managers do have the option to post or repost assignments with expanded language that could include 300 series level work. This would be a good faith effort on the part of the hiring manager and said to be encouraged by LLNS senior management. Effective January 1, 2013, any career indefinite EIT or EBA that does not acquire a programmatically funded assignment in a "responsible period of time" is subject to an "individual RIF".
Seriously, get over it.
7/27/2021 1:46 PM
LANS has been gone for years. What planet do you live on?
7/29/2021 8:07 AM
Same was true of LANS.