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

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal staff members have till 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 permitted to take leave and be paid until completion of September. Michelle Bercovici is an employment lawyer who represents federal employees as a big part of her practice, 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 a lot a deal. I think it’s a request to resign with a vague pledge that, potentially, you could be kept in administrative leave status for approximately eight months – but no guarantees.MARTIN: Some people have been utilizing the term buyout to describe what this is since there seems to be the offer of administrative leave for approximately eight months if you take this deal. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would absolutely not explain it as a buyout. I think that’s an extremely misleading term to utilize in this scenario. When you think of a buyout, there’s typically some sort of written contract or a concrete offer to offer a benefit in exchange for waiving certain rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If customers ask you for your guidance, what are you informing them?BERCOVICI: First thing we tell them is workout extreme care. There are no warranties consisted of in this e-mail. The only thing I can tell you for 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: Is there some classification of employee who you believe this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is somebody like that may this be an appealing offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement need to be the most cautious due to the fact that leaving earlier than meant can have severe 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 bargain for people who don’t want to return to the office. Let me simply play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a recommendation to federal workers 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 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 remains in bad faith, that it’s designed to get folks who work really to resign. I believe it’s trying to pull the wool over a great deal of people’s eyes because there are no warranties. And these are people who love their job. They like the objective of the company. They strive. And right now, they’re facing really tough options, specifically if they’re remote. I suggest, referall.us it’s extremely coercive.MARTIN: You state it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re somebody who lives in Oregon and has been informed 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 anticipate legal difficulties simply to the deal itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This deal, to be truthful, is so unprecedented that I believe a lot of us are still trying to determine what to do with it. I’m uncertain 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 today for OPM to order companies to offer this variety of people administrative leave. So I think it is quite potentially setting the stage for obstacles due to the fact that 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 a lot for signing up with us.BERCOVICI: Thank you so much for having me here.

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