David Crowder / El Paso Times  
 
As many as 150 garment workers at Ready One Industries, formerly El Paso's National Center for Employment of the Disabled, could be laid off in coming weeks, company spokesman Marc Schwartz said Monday.

“We issued ... notices last week to all Ready One employees as a direct result of the fact that it has taken longer than expected for the Defense Supply Center in Philadelphia to issue new contracts,” Schwartz said.

The layoffs will probably begin this week, he said.

Layoffs at Ready One's new sister company, Paloma Industries, are also expected, Schwartz said.

The former NCED had its defense contracts for Army combat uniforms suspended in March because of an investigation into allegations that the nonprofit was violating federal regulations pertaining to the amount of work being performed by NCED's disabled employees.

NCED's participation in the Javits Wagner O'Day Act Program required that disabled workers do 75 percent of the work on federal set-aside contracts, but NCED has disclosed that those workers accounted for 22 percent of the labor before March.

Despite the violations, the President's Committee for Purchase from People who are Blind and Severely Disabled chose not to terminate NCED from the program as long as the nonprofit restructured and came into compliance.

Recently renamed Ready One as part of the restructuring, NCED had 4,035 employees 
  
 
at its peak this spring.

Since March, its ranks have shrunk to 2,600 in part because some workers have been moved to Paloma Industries, a separate nonprofit established in the reorganization. Paloma is not involved in Javits Wagner O'Day contracts for disabled workers.

Ready One President and Chief Executive Officer Joe Wardy said the company expected new contracts but may not be getting them because of a decrease in demand by the military.

“We've wanted to avoid any further reductions, but with the current uncertainty over new contracts, this is the most prudent and responsible action to take at this time,” Wardy said.

Repeated calls and written inquiries by the El Paso Times to the Defense Supply Center about the status of Ready One's contracts for the production of both combat uniforms and chemical warfare protection suits have gone unanswered in recent weeks