June 13, 2008

 

DEADLINE FAST APPROACHING TO CHALLENGE YOUR LAYOFF --- PLEASE READ THIS

 

SPSE-UPTE has been gathering demographic information from the Lab employees laid off during the week of May 19th. Reviewing this information and LLNS policy, we believe that most of the people affected have justification to file grievances or discrimination complaints. They are as follows:

 

  1. A formal grievance to LLNS claiming violation of LLNS layoff policy in combination with labor or case law. In determining order of layoff, companies are allowed to make exceptions to inverse seniority and skip over less senior employees only if they possess unique skills or abilities that do not exist elsewhere in the company. Generally, labor boards and the courts have found that instances of skipping should not amount to more than 10% of a workforce. LLNS excluded around 40% of its employees from the layoff pool. This is clearly far more than the law intended.
  2. Well over 90% of the employees we contacted or who contacted us were over 40 years old. We believe that the age of the general Lab population is distributed more evenly. A difference in age distribution between the general workforce and the laid off employees would demonstrate a prima facie case for age discrimination. An age discrimination complaint can be filed with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.

 

If you wish to file a grievance, you must get a Complaint Resolution Form (CRF) to LLNL’s Staff Relations Division no later than June 20, 2008. Attached is an appropriately filled out CRF for the charge we just described. You need only fill in the personal information on the top part of the form, and send it to this address:

 

Robert Perko

Division Leader, Staff Relations, L-708

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

P. O. Box 808

Livermore, CA 94550

 

Or, you can use this form as a template and craft your own charge with details of your specific situation. In either case, you should file the complaint before the deadline. Even if you are talking to an attorney you should still file the complaint if you believe (as we do) that Laboratory policy was violated. You can always withdraw the grievance later if for any reason you change your mind. You should expect that LLNS will deny the complaint at the initial step. That’s normal. When this happens you should ask for independent review by an outside arbitrator rather than by an internal panel. Moreover, at this stage you should seek representation. Do not try to go it alone.

 

Also, if you are above 40, consider filing an age discrimination complaint with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing in parallel with your grievance. To learn about this, go to:

 

http://www.dfeh.ca.gov/complaints/Default.aspx?process=employment#main_content_1

 

Filing with DFEH automatically carries over into a duplicate filing with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

 

The process of filing a grievance or discrimination complaint can be difficult. Moreover, it is beyond SPSE-UPTE’s ability to represent every individual who wishes to file. We suggest that if you file a grievance, you also obtain legal advice in the matter before your case reaches the arbitration stage.

 

We have obtained demographic information from a large fraction of the individuals that were laid off. We have raw data on age, gender, and ethnicity, among other things. We offer this information, along with a list of people who were laid off, for your use in any internal complaint resolution or legal action. Bear in mind that our layoff list is not completely accurate, though it is more than 95% so.  It represents our best estimate from sources we had at our disposal. If you or your legal representative believes this information will be useful, please contact SPSE-UPTE at spse@spse.org. We wish you well in asserting you rights.

 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

 

Society of Professionals, Scientists & Engineers
Local 11 University Professional and Technical Employees, CWA Local 9119
P.O. Box 1066, Livermore, CA 94551
(925) 449-4846 voice
(925) 449-4851 fax
Office Hours: Mon. - Fri. 8am to Noon
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Visit our web site at http://www.spse.org