BP stuffs their foot in it again

[BobSch]

Now if you get paid to help the cleanup, BP will deduct it from any settlement.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_oil_spill_feinberg

Can they find any other ways to alienate everybody?

[cabinetman]

IMO, it's not that they are paying twice. It's just coincidental that clean-up workers could be ones filing claims. If they weren't available, other workers would have to be paid.
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[LCHIEN]

If you read my earlier posts I'm certainly no fan of BPs, but this is not totally unreasonable.
You can't demand they pay you for lost opportunity to work but then double dip when you get an opportunity to work caused however unwillingly by the same company.

I suppose fisherman who didn't declare income for taxes but are now filing for BP benefits for lost income are going to claim that they sholdn't have to pay taxes on that either. It would be unpatriotic to think that the feds should go after the fishermen for back taxes....

[Uncle Cracker]

Definitely not unreasonable. You don't give unemployment compensation to somebody who has a paying job, do you? However, BP has still been culpably negligent to thousands of other people, so the cash they "deduct" here should definitely be diverted to others that need it

A side effect that this might bring to BP is that they will find it harder to get people to help with the cleanup, as BP is effectively giving prospective workers the choice of working for pay, or doing nothing for the same pay. Hmmmm...

[Kristofor]

If they all say no and keep their boats sitting in the slips, BP can pay more to have folks from the east coast or mexico or wherever come in and ultimately pay more...

Or they can play by BP rules, incorporate another company as a separate legal entity, lease that company their boat, and have it pay them to operate said boat so as to double dip. Anyone think a real billion dollar corporation wouldn't do exactly that?

I can somewhat understand why folks might think this was reasonable and similar to simple unemployment...

However, in my mind it's more like someone driving a semi full of fertilizer through my neighborhood too fast (while talking on the cell phone, and after neglecting to ensure proper tire pressure) causing the truck to roll and spill manure in my driveway.

I need to get my car out of the garage to go to my real job (that doesn't involve shoveling s***). The trucking company needs to pay someone to clean up the mess. If I help them, maybe it will be done a bit sooner, so I can see why that might be a win-win. However, if they offer to pay me $500 to shovel dung (oh, and this particular dung is full of carcinogens) in the hot sun in stifling protective gear, or $700 (since it will then take longer to clean) to sit home and write letters to my congressmen asking them to pass a slew of reasonable and not so reasonable laws to reign in the manure trucking industry, I know which one I'd pick...

[woodturner]

However, if they offer to pay me $500 to shovel dung (oh, and this particular dung is full of carcinogens) in the hot sun in stifling protective gear, or $700 (since it will then take longer to clean) to sit home and write letters to my congressmen asking them to pass a slew of reasonable and not so reasonable laws to reign in the manure trucking industry, I know which one I'd pick...

In this case, though, they are offering $1500 a day ($390K per year) minimum (some are getting $3000/day or $780K/yr) to help with the cleanup, or $300 a day ($78K/yr) to sit at home. The folks complaining are trying to get paid twice and collect $1800/day ($468K/yr).