And for what? A few votes:

The Obama administration has sought to quell the fear of mass defense layoffs in presidential battlegrounds like Virginia, where letters sent in early November warning about the possibility of job losses could discourage thousands of defense workers from backing the incumbent.

The government's guarantee to foot the bill for legal problems, as long as contractors heed OMB's advice to refrain from warning about lob losses, is unusual.

"I don't know of any situation where the government has done this in the past," said William Gould, a labor professor at Stanford Law School.  

via Just Say No To Layoff Notices - The Daily Beast.