Lockheed Martin will not give sequestration notice of mass layoffs

Lockheed Martin does not plan on issuing layoff notices to its employees,according to an article on The Washington Post’s website.

Lockheed “will not issue sequestration-related WARN notices this year,” the article cites the company as saying. Under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, states require advance notice of any event that could cause great job losses or facility closures, the article said; however, sequestration is not included under the stipulation, and contractors who are facing sequestration are not therefore required to send layoff notices to their workers.

In that situation, a mass layoff or facility closing could instead be considered an “allowable cost” covered by the contracting agency, according to the White House’s recent guidance, in which it set the parameters for such allowable costs.

Lockheed also said that the “additional guidance offered important new information about the potential timing of DOD actions under sequestration, indicating that DOD anticipates no contract actions on or about 2 January, 2013, and that any action to adjust funding levels on contracts as a result of sequestration would likely not occur for several months after 2 Jan.,” the article said.