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

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal employees have till February 6 to decide whether to voluntarily leave their tasks. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, OPM, informed workers on Tuesday that if they hand in their resignation by next Thursday – that’s less than a week from now – most will be permitted to depart and be paid till the end of September. Michelle Bercovici is an employment legal representative who represents federal staff members as a big part of her practice, so I asked her for her interpretation about what OPM’s deferred resignation program would really mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: employment I in fact do not consider it so much a deal. I believe it’s a request to resign with a vague guarantee that, potentially, you might be kept in administrative leave status for as much as eight months – but no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have been using the term buyout to what this is since there seems to be the offer of administrative leave for up to 8 months if you take this deal. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would definitely not describe it as a buyout. I believe that’s an extremely misleading term to utilize in this circumstance. When you consider a buyout, there’s typically some sort of composed agreement or a concrete offer to provide a benefit in exchange for waiving particular rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If customers ask you for your recommendations, what are you telling them?BERCOVICI: First thing we tell them is workout extreme caution. There are no guarantees contained in this e-mail. The only thing I can inform you for employment particular is that if you change your mind, the agency’s probably not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are essentially quiting control over a lot.MARTIN: employment Is there some category of employee who you believe this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is someone like that may this be an attractive offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement need to be the most cautious since leaving earlier than meant can have serious repercussions, possibly, 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 bargain for people who don’t wish to return to the office. Let me simply play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a suggestion to federal employees that they have to return in – to work. And if they don’t, then they have the option to resign, and this administration is extremely kindly using to pay them for eight months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It just – in such 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 is in bad faith, that it’s designed to get folks who work really tough to resign. I believe it’s trying to pull the wool over a lot of individuals’s eyes due to the fact that there are no guarantees. And these are individuals who enjoy their job. They like the objective of the company. They work hard. And today, they’re dealing with extremely hard choices, especially if they’re remote. I mean, it’s very coercive.MARTIN: You state it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re someone who lives in Oregon and has been told to report to D.C. or else we’re going to fire you, they might feel that they have no option than to take this option.MARTIN: Do you expect legal obstacles just to the deal itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This deal, to be truthful, is so unmatched that I believe a lot of us are still trying to find out what to do with it. I’m unsure if the deal itself may be challengeable. I think the bigger concern is the execution of these terms. I’m not familiar with any authority that exists today for OPM to buy firms to give this variety of individuals administrative leave. So I think it is quite possibly setting the phase for difficulties due to the fact that I feel OPM has actually significantly surpassed their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is a work 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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