Via CNN:

“NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The White House on Friday told government contractors worried about fiscal cliff spending cuts to hold off on warning employees about possible layoffs.

The government said it would cover legal costs if contractors are forced to slash their payrolls because of the looming $109 billion in automatic cuts next year and are alleged to have violated the WARN Act.

The federal WARN Act requires businesses with more than 100 employees to notify workers at least 60 days in advance of a mass layoff or plant closing. Some states require more notice.

“Any resulting employee compensation costs for WARN Act liability as determined by a court, as well as attorneys’ fees and other litigation costs (irrespective of litigation outcome) would qualify as allowable costs and be covered by the contracting agency, if otherwise reasonable and allocable,” the Office of Management and Budget said in its guidance.

Ace is on it.

“Due to Obama’s failure to lead and craft a solution to the debt crisis, the Department of Defense is slated for massive cuts.

These cuts mean massive layoffs in both the DoD and affected industries.

200,000 or more layoffs.

The law requires that companies which know they’re going to lay people off provide advance notice of this.

But Obama doesn’t want those notices going out before the election.

So he’s warned contractors to not comply with the law.

And if that weren’t illegal enough, he’s also promising to waive the fines the law says they must pay due to failure to notify.”

But it won’t stop the coming lawsuits should laid off workers choose to sue for not being properly notified. Also it’s questionable whether tax payer money can be used to pay the legal costs of a contractor. Flat out this is the Obama administration misusing the power of the presidency to help him win reelection. It’t not only a violation of WARN, but it’s a violation of FEL.