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

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal employees have up until February 6 to choose whether to voluntarily leave their jobs. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, OPM, informed 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 depart and be paid till the end of September. Michelle Bercovici is a work legal representative who represents federal employees 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 in fact don’t consider it so much a deal. I believe it’s a request to resign with a vague pledge that, somalibidders.com possibly, you could be kept in administrative leave status for up to 8 months – however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some people have been using the term buyout to explain what this is due to the fact that there seems to be the deal of administrative leave for as much as eight months if you take this offer. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would never explain it as a buyout. I believe that’s an extremely misleading term to use in this scenario. When you consider a buyout, there’s usually some sort of composed arrangement or a concrete offer to supply an advantage in exchange for waiving particular rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If clients ask you for your recommendations, what are you informing them?BERCOVICI: First thing we tell them is exercise extreme care. There are no warranties included in this e-mail. The only thing I can tell you for specific is that if you alter your mind, the company’s probably not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are essentially providing up 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 might this be an attractive offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near need to be the most cautious due to the fact that leaving earlier than planned can have serious repercussions, possibly, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me just play a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She informed press reporters that this is a good deal for people who don’t desire to return to the office. Let me just play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a tip to federal workers that they have to return in – to work. And if they do not, then they have the choice to resign, and this administration is extremely generously providing to pay them for 8 months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It simply – in such a way, it breaks my heart that federal workers 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 actually difficult to resign. I think it’s attempting to pull the wool over a lot of people’s eyes since there are no guarantees. And these are people who enjoy their job. They love the objective of the firm. They work hard. And right now, they’re dealing with very difficult choices, particularly 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. otherwise we’re going to fire you, they might feel that they have no option than to take this option.MARTIN: Do you anticipate legal obstacles just to the offer itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be truthful, is so unmatched that I think a great deal of us are still trying to figure out what to do with it. I’m uncertain if the deal itself may be challengeable. I believe the bigger question is the execution of these terms. I’m not conscious of any authority that exists right now for OPM to order firms to offer this variety of individuals administrative leave. So I believe it is quite potentially setting the phase for challenges because I feel OPM has actually vastly 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 signing up with us.BERCOVICI: Thank you so much for having me here.

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