Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s announcement Monday morning that 90 percent of Defense Department employees would be heading back to work affected more than just those workers.
Lockheed Martin announced Monday because of the reduced number of furloughed DOD workers, fewer of its employees would be affected by the shutdown.
The company announced Oct. 4 3,000 of its employees would be furloughed Monday as a result of the government shutdown. According to a statement today, that number has decreased to 2,400 furloughed employees. Of the 2,400 workers, 300 work on DOD programs and the other 2,100 work on civilian agency programs.
Monday night, right before the fiscal year ended, the president signed a bill that would fund the military in the event of a government shutdown. It took nearly a week for Justice and Defense Department lawyers to figure out just how many of the furloughed workers Hagel would be able to send back to work.
What they concluded was that the law allows DOD to exempt those workers whose responsibilities “contribute to the moral, well-being, capabilities and readiness of service members,” Hagel said.
Hagel is working to bring back all civilian DOD personnel as quickly as possible, according to the statement.
“This has been a very disruptive year for our people — including active duty, National Guard and reserve personnel, and DOD civilians and contractors,” Hagel said. “Many important activities remain curtailed while the shutdown goes on.”
For now, Lockheed Martin has said it will continue to work with its customers until the administration and Congress can resolve the shutdown.
