Anyone been asked to clean a toilet at work? Lord! Just asking. I know it’s an extreme case. But back in the US a contract employer has clear and defined roles for its employees and the client understands this or puts it on the agenda at contract negotiation time. But in the Far East, a contract seems to be far more flexible than that. At least from the US civilian stand point. Don’t get me wrong. Master Labor Contract workers MLCs are under a similar contract with the military, but it seems that the Japanese government is a little better at holding the Navy and the US military to the letter of the law in reference to what can be asked of a MLC. But recruit a US citizen over to Japan and once they arrive they find that though their employer has not misled them, it seems that the Navy has. Maybe it’s because they (the client) is allowed to get away with it for lack of accountability being applied to them. But it seems that whatever the Navy asks of its US contractor is pretty much assumed to be implied in the current contract in what is defined as their purview. Bill and Steve maybe asked to help move large cabinets, or mop and wax a floor in the work place all depending on what mood the GS is in or how cheeky they feel. All the while forgetting that the civilians are not covered by any program of self-insurance the military has in place to cover its service-members. What if Bill slips and falls and that heavy cabinet he was asked to move crashes on him. Good thing there’s a military hospital down the street with Emergency surgical care. But who pays the cost? His group insurer? The Military? The Civilian Employer? Or lastly the GS who asked for the job to be done without prior permission or authority granted from their employer the US Military. Sure some are reading this and say. The military isn’t going to pay. HUH? We are contractors (civilians) not unformed military. Yes, we can and do sue every day. The Military branch involved will investigate and pay really quick to head off that bad publicity and scandal. Commanding Officers get relieved around the world for far less. But do they know? Maybe not! Do they know of the liabilities created under their command without their prior knowledge? Most probably not! But when that CO doesn’t have more than 20-30 military and over 100 civilians in their command or unit. And when the CO is told that 10 offices with over 4000 pounds of furniture was being moved from one building to another, do you think they ask at the meeting, who is providing the labor? Or what’s our liability on this? And what happened if the 100 or so civilians refuse to be the mules for this adventure? Who will hold the military and the contracting company accountable if dismissals take place?
It’s like speeding to work each day. You do it because well, you’ve been getting away with it all these months and who cares? The police don’t! You don’t see them out there stopping you. So you keep doing it knowing it’s dangerous and somebody might get hurt SOMEDAY. Then one day SOMEDAY comes and you or someone else gets hurt! Why? Because you couldn’t plan ahead and provide yourself enough time to get to work.
It’s the same thing here. For lack of planning and budgeting someone will get hurt performing a task that they are not properly equipped, trained and or authorized to do. Someone, God forbid will get hurt (statistically) because there simply isn’t enough military at each command or unit to perform all these tasks. So some contractor for fear of dismissal will jump in and help and then slip and fall, maybe have something fall on them. And the boom will come down on all those in management who let it happen. Yes, the military will pay for lack of planning as they do in prosecuting their wars. Yes, they will pay for some poor slubs broken leg, pain and suffering all because the same poor slub wanted to show that he was part of the team.
ITcontracting
