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 willingly leave their jobs. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, referall.us 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 enabled to take leave and be paid till the end of September. Michelle Bercovici is an employment legal representative who represents federal workers as a large part of her practice, so I asked her for her analysis about what OPM’s delayed resignation program would really mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I actually do not consider it so much a deal. I think it’s a demand to resign with an unclear pledge that, possibly, you might be kept in administrative leave status for up to eight months – however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some people have actually been utilizing the term buyout to explain what this is because there seems to be the offer of administrative leave for as much as 8 months if you take this offer. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would never explain it as a buyout. I think that’s a really misleading term to use in this circumstance. When you think of a buyout, there’s generally some sort of written contract or a concrete deal to supply an advantage in for waiving particular 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 caution. There are no guarantees contained in this e-mail. The only thing I can tell you for certain is that if you alter your mind, the firm’s probably not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are essentially offering up control over a lot.MARTIN: Is there some classification of staff member who you believe this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is somebody like that might this be an appealing offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement require to be the most careful due to the fact that leaving earlier than intended can have major repercussions, potentially, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me simply play a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She told reporters that this is an excellent offer for individuals who don’t wish to go back to the workplace. Let me just play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a suggestion to federal employees that they need to return in – to work. And if they don’t, then they have the option to resign, and this administration is extremely kindly providing to pay them for eight months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It simply – in a method, it breaks my heart that federal staff members are being jerked around like this. It sends a signal to me that this return-to-office order is in bad faith, that it’s created to get folks who work truly difficult to resign. I think it’s trying to pull the wool over a great deal of individuals’s eyes because there are no guarantees. And these are individuals who enjoy their job. They like the mission of the company. They strive. And today, they’re dealing with extremely hard options, particularly if they’re remote. I indicate, 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. or else we’re going to fire you, they might feel that they have no choice than to take this option.MARTIN: Do you expect legal difficulties simply to the offer itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be truthful, is so extraordinary that I believe a great deal of us are still attempting to figure out what to do with it. I’m unsure if the offer itself might be challengeable. I think the bigger concern is the execution of these terms. I’m not familiar with any authority that exists right now for OPM to order agencies to give this variety of people administrative leave. So I believe it is very much possibly setting the stage for difficulties due to the fact that I feel OPM has actually vastly exceeded their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is a work attorney with the Alden Law Group here in Washington, D.C. Thank you so much for joining us.BERCOVICI: Thank you so much for having me here.

Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights scheduled. Visit our website regards to usage and approvals pages at www.npr.org for more information.

NPR transcripts are produced on a rush due date by an NPR contractor. This text might not be in its last type and may be updated or modified in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programs is the audio record.