Employment Lawyer Discusses what Trump Offer to Federal Employees to Resign Would Do

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal employees have until February 6 to choose whether to willingly leave their jobs. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, OPM, notified employees on Tuesday that if they hand in their resignation by next Thursday – that’s less than a week from now – most will be allowed to depart and be paid till the end of September. Michelle Bercovici is a work legal representative who represents federal staff members as a big part of her practice, employment so I asked her for her analysis about what OPM’s delayed resignation program would really mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I in fact don’t consider it so much a deal. I think it’s a request to resign with an unclear promise that, employment possibly, you might be kept in administrative leave status for as much as eight months – but no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have actually been utilizing the term buyout to explain what this is since there appears to be the offer of administrative leave for as much as 8 months if you take this deal. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would never describe it as a buyout. I think that’s an extremely deceptive term to utilize in this scenario. When you consider a buyout, there’s usually some sort of written agreement or a concrete offer to offer an advantage in exchange for waiving certain rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If customers ask you for your suggestions, what are you telling them?BERCOVICI: First thing we inform them is exercise extreme care. There are no assurances consisted of in this e-mail. The only thing I can inform you for particular is that if you alter your mind, the agency’s probably not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are basically offering up control over a lot.MARTIN: Is there some category of staff member who you think this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is somebody like that might this be an attractive offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement need to be the most cautious since leaving earlier than meant can have major repercussions, potentially, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me just play a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She told press reporters that this is a great offer for people who don’t wish to return to the workplace. Let me just play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a tip to federal workers that they need to return in – to work. And employment if they don’t, employment then they have the option to resign, and this administration is extremely kindly providing to pay them for 8 months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It just – in a way, it breaks my heart that federal workers are being jerked around like this. It sends out a signal to me that this return-to-office order remains in bad faith, that it’s designed to get folks who work actually tough to resign. I believe it’s trying to pull the wool over a lot of people’s eyes because there are no warranties. And these are individuals who love their task. They enjoy the mission of the agency. They work hard. And today, they’re facing extremely difficult choices, specifically if they’re remote. I mean, it’s really coercive.MARTIN: You say it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re somebody who lives in Oregon and has been told to report to D.C. otherwise we’re going to fire you, they might feel that they have no option than to take this option.MARTIN: Do you prepare for legal difficulties just to the deal itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: employment This offer, to be sincere, is so unprecedented that I think a lot of us are still attempting to find out what to do with it. I’m not exactly sure if the deal itself might be challengeable. I believe the bigger concern is the execution of these terms. I’m not knowledgeable about any authority that exists right now for OPM to purchase agencies to provide this variety of individuals administrative leave. So I believe it is really much possibly setting the phase for difficulties because I feel OPM has significantly surpassed their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is an employment lawyer with the Alden Law Group here in Washington, D.C. Thank you so much for joining us.BERCOVICI: Thank you a lot for having me here.

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