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 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 till completion of September. Michelle Bercovici is a work legal representative who represents federal staff members as a large part of her practice, referall.us so I asked her for her interpretation about what OPM’s deferred resignation program would actually mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I actually do not consider it so much a deal. I think it’s a demand to resign with an unclear promise that, potentially, you could be kept in administrative leave status for as much as eight months – however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have been utilizing the term buyout to describe what this is since there seems to be the offer of administrative leave for somalibidders.com approximately 8 months if you take this deal. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would never describe it as a buyout. I think that’s a very deceptive term to use in this scenario. When you believe of a buyout, there’s usually some sort of composed agreement or a concrete deal to supply an advantage in exchange for waiving particular rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If customers ask you for your recommendations, 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 inform 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 basically quiting control over a lot.MARTIN: Is there some category of employee who you believe this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is someone like that might this be an attractive offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement need to be the most cautious since leaving earlier than planned can have major repercussions, potentially, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me just play a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She informed reporters that this is an excellent deal for people who do not wish to return to the office. Let me just play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a recommendation to federal employees that they need to return in – to work. And if they do not, then they have the option to resign, and this administration is extremely kindly offering 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 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 tough to resign. I believe it’s trying to pull the wool over a lot of individuals’s eyes because there are no guarantees. And these are people who like their job. They enjoy the objective of the agency. They strive. And today, they’re dealing with very tough choices, especially if they’re remote. I suggest, it’s very coercive.MARTIN: You state it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re somebody 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 prepare for legal obstacles just to the offer itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This deal, to be honest, is so unprecedented that I think a lot of us are still trying to figure out what to do with it. I’m uncertain if the offer itself might be challengeable. I believe the bigger concern is the execution of these terms. I’m not familiar with any authority that exists today for OPM to order firms to provide this number of people administrative leave. So I think it is really much possibly setting the stage for obstacles due to the fact that I feel OPM has greatly exceeded 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 a lot for signing up with us.BERCOVICI: Thank you so much for having me here.

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