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 voluntarily leave their jobs. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, OPM, notified 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 attorney who represents federal workers as a big part of her practice, so I asked her for her analysis about what OPM’s postponed resignation program would actually mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I actually don’t consider it a lot a deal. I believe it’s a request to resign with an unclear promise that, potentially, you could be kept in administrative leave status for up to 8 months – however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some people have actually been utilizing the term buyout to describe what this is because there appears to be the deal of administrative leave for up to 8 months if you take this offer. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would never describe it as a buyout. I believe that’s an extremely deceptive term to utilize in this scenario. When you believe of a buyout, there’s typically some sort of written arrangement or a concrete offer to supply a benefit in exchange for waiving specific rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If customers ask you for your advice, what are you informing them?BERCOVICI: First thing we inform them is exercise extreme care. There are no guarantees included in this e-mail. The only thing I can tell you for particular is that if you alter your mind, referall.us the firm’s most likely not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are basically offering up control over a lot.MARTIN: Exists some classification of staff member who you think this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is someone like that may this be an ?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement require to be the most cautious since 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 reporters that this is an excellent deal for people who don’t wish to return to the workplace. Let me simply play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is an idea to federal workers that they have to return in – to work. And if they do not, 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 simply – in a manner, 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 created to get folks who work really tough to resign. I think it’s trying to pull the wool over a lot of individuals’s eyes because there are no assurances. And these are individuals who like their task. They enjoy the objective of the firm. They work hard. And right now, they’re dealing with very tough choices, specifically if they’re remote. I imply, it’s really 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 prepare for legal difficulties simply to the offer itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be sincere, is so unmatched that I think a lot of us are still trying to figure out what to do with it. I’m not sure if the offer itself might be challengeable. I believe the larger concern is the execution of these terms. I’m not familiar with any authority that exists today for OPM to purchase firms to give this variety of individuals administrative leave. So I believe it is quite perhaps setting the stage for challenges since I feel OPM has actually greatly surpassed their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is a work legal representative with the Alden Law Group here in Washington, D.C. Thank you so much for signing up with us.BERCOVICI: Thank you a lot for having me here.

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