There is finally some good news amidst the doom and gloom of layoff and furlough talk that has had the American public stressed for over a week now. According to The Hartford Courant, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced Saturday that the Pentagon will bring most of its 400,000 furloughed civilian employees back to work. Hagel said in a written statement that lawyers have concluded that the law permits the return of employees “whose responsibilities contribute to the morale, well-being, capabilities and readiness of service members.”
He added that the Pentagon is now trying to identify “all employees whose activities fall under these categories,” and expects to “significantly reduce — but not eliminate — civilian furloughs under this process.”
According to CTNow, thousands of furloughs expected at Hartford, Conn.-based United Technologies Corp., which provides high technology products and services to the building and aerospace industries, were expected to begin Monday. Those have been called off thanks to the recall of furloughed employees to the Pentagon, the company announced Sunday.
“United Technologies greatly appreciates the efforts of those in the Administration and Congress who facilitated the recall of the furloughed civilian employees in the U.S. Department of Defense,” it said in a news release.
Undersecretary of defense, Robert Hale, said on Saturday that he didn’t have firm estimates of how many defense employees would remain off work during the government shutdown, he said: “We haven’t solved all the problems. We still hope Congress will act very quickly to end this shutdown.”
Hopefully other defense firms will follow the example of United Technologies Corp. so that more people may receive the good news that they will still, at least, have a job in the midst of the madness. Surely this government shutdown and the playground bickering in Congress won’t last much longer and we can all go back to our lives.
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