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

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: employment Federal staff members have until February 6 to decide whether to voluntarily 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 take leave and employment be paid until completion of September. Michelle Bercovici is an employment legal representative who represents federal staff members as a large part of her practice, so I asked her for her analysis about what OPM’s deferred resignation program would in fact mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I actually do not consider it a lot an offer. I think it’s a request to resign with an unclear pledge that, potentially, you might be kept in administrative leave status for approximately 8 months – however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some people have actually been using the term buyout to explain what this is due to the fact that there appears to be the offer of administrative leave for approximately eight months if you take this deal. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would definitely not describe it as a buyout. I think that’s a very deceptive term to use in this situation. When you think about a buyout, there’s usually some sort of composed arrangement or employment a concrete deal to offer an advantage in exchange for employment waiving certain rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If clients ask you for your advice, what are you informing them?BERCOVICI: First thing we inform them is exercise extreme care. There are no warranties consisted of in this e-mail. The only thing I can tell you for certain is that if you change your mind, the agency’s most likely not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are essentially providing up control over a lot.MARTIN: Is there some classification of worker who you believe this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is somebody like that may this be an attractive offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement require to be the most careful because leaving earlier than intended can have severe consequences, potentially, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me simply play a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She told press reporters that this is a bargain for individuals who don’t desire to go back to the workplace. Let me simply play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a recommendation to federal employees that they have to return in – to work. And if they do not, employment then they have the alternative to resign, and this is really kindly using to pay them for 8 months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It simply – in a manner, it breaks my heart that federal employees are being jerked around like this. It sends a signal to me that this return-to-office order remains in bad faith, that it’s designed to get folks who work really tough to resign. I believe it’s attempting to pull the wool over a lot of individuals’s eyes because there are no guarantees. And these are individuals who like their task. They enjoy the mission of the company. They work hard. And today, they’re facing extremely hard choices, particularly if they’re remote. I imply, it’s extremely coercive.MARTIN: You say it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re someone who resides 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 choice than to take this option.MARTIN: Do you anticipate legal difficulties simply to the offer itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be honest, is so unmatched that I think a great deal of us are still trying to find out what to do with it. I’m not sure if the deal itself may be challengeable. I think the larger question is the execution of these terms. I’m not mindful of any authority that exists right now for OPM to order companies to provide this variety of people administrative leave. So I think it is really much perhaps setting the stage for difficulties because I feel OPM has significantly exceeded their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is an employment legal representative with the Alden Law Group here in Washington, D.C. Thank you a lot for joining us.BERCOVICI: Thank you a lot for having me here.

Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights booked. Visit our website terms of usage and employment permissions pages at www.npr.org for further details.

NPR transcripts are produced on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its last kind and might be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability might vary. The reliable record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.