Meetings Thursday for contingent workers

Subcontract workers potentially affected by the Laboratory's Contingent Worker Project will have an opportunity to ask specific questions about the project and how it relates to them on Thursday.

Uncleared contingent workers can attend an informational meeting at 8 a.m., Thursday in the Physics Building Auditorium at Technical Area 3. Contingent workers with Q or L clearances can attend a second informational meeting at 1:30 p.m., in the Administration Building Auditorium, also at TA-3.

The Laboratory is hosting separate sessions for cleared and uncleared workers due to recently implemented security requirements for the Administration Building Auditorium. Because space in the Physics Building Auditorium is limited, contingent workers with Q or L clearances are strongly encouraged to attend the afternoon session to maximize seating for uncleared contingent workers at the morning session. If necessary, the Laboratory will schedule future forums to meet demand.

The Laboratory announced the Contingent Worker Project in mid March. The project is examining whether the Laboratory's use of subcontract labor is consistent with sound business practices and whether some assignments currently filled by contingent workers might more appropriately be designated as UC positions.

A contingent worker is a person who works under a Laboratory subcontract and is not an employee of the University of California.

The Contingent Worker Project focuses on contingent workers who are employees of a labor subcontract company (Weirich, Butler, Comforce, PlusGroup) or work under a task order or as a consultant. Laboratory affiliates and employees of KSL, PTLA and Aramark Corp., generally are not included in the Contingent Worker Project.

Since the project was announced, personnel from the Human Resources (HR) Division have been working closely with managers in organizations across the Laboratory to analyze assignments currently held by contingent workers employed by Weirich, Butler, Comforce and PlusGroup -- so-called "staff augmentation" or "body-shop" subcontracting firms. Contingent Worker assignments that more appropriately should be designated as UC-regular positions will be advertised to internal and external applicants. Contingent workers can apply for these new positions once they are advertised. Hiring officials will select the best-qualified applicants for the positions.

Some positions for former "body-shop" assignments already have been posted in the Risk Reduction and Environmental Stewardship (RRES) and Information Management (IM) divisions. Other organizations should begin posting positions related to former "body-shop" assignments soon. Contingent Worker project personnel estimate the "body-shop" portion of the project to be largely completed -- with the majority of jobs posted and hiring decisions made -- by August or September, with the on-boarding process completed by mid-October.

Although Contingent Worker Project personnel have begun preliminary work on gathering data about contingent worker assignments related to task orders (technical services subcontracts) and consultant contracts, project personnel do not expect job postings of former task-order or consultant assignments to begin until late June or early July.

Thursday's information meetings will feature personnel affiliated with the Contingent Worker Project, personnel from Compensation and Benefits (HR-C) and Associate Director for Administration (ADA) Richard Marquez, who was given responsibility by Laboratory Director G. Peter Nanos to oversee the project to completion.

Contingent Workers can learn additional information about the project at the Contingent Worker Project Web site online. The site contains background and overview information about the project as well as a comprehensive list of Frequently Asked Questions and Answers.

Contingent workers also can get answers to specific questions by submitting questions to CWP@lanl.gov by electronic mail.

--James E. Rickman

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