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

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal workers have up until February 6 to decide whether to willingly leave their tasks. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, OPM, informed workers 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 up until the end of September. Michelle Bercovici is a work attorney who represents federal employees as a big part of her practice, so I asked her for her interpretation about what OPM’s delayed resignation program would in fact mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I in fact do not consider it a lot a deal. I believe it’s a request to resign with a vague promise that, employment possibly, you could be kept in administrative leave status for up to eight months – however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some 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 offer. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would definitely not describe it as a buyout. I believe that’s an extremely deceptive term to use in this circumstance. When you think about a buyout, there’s generally some sort of written agreement or a concrete offer to supply a benefit in exchange for waiving certain rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If clients ask you for your recommendations, what are you telling them?BERCOVICI: First thing we inform them is exercise extreme caution. There are no assurances included in this email. The only thing I can inform you for particular is that if you alter your mind, the agency’s probably not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are basically giving up control over a lot.MARTIN: Exists some category of worker 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 retirement require to be the most careful due to the fact that leaving earlier than planned can have severe consequences, potentially, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me simply play a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She informed reporters that this is a bargain for employment people who don’t wish to go back to the workplace. Let me simply play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: employment This is a suggestion to federal workers that they need to return in – to work. And if they do not, then they have the alternative to resign, and this administration is extremely generously offering to pay them for eight 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 remains in bad faith, that it’s created to get folks who work really tough to resign. I believe it’s attempting to pull the wool over a great deal of individuals’s eyes due to the fact that there are no warranties. And these are people who enjoy their job. They love the objective of the firm. They strive. And right now, they’re facing extremely difficult choices, employment specifically if they’re remote. I suggest, it’s very coercive.MARTIN: You state it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: employment Essentially, if you’re someone who resides in Oregon and has been informed 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 expect legal difficulties just to the deal itself? And if so, employment on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This deal, to be honest, is so unprecedented that I think a lot of us are still attempting to find out what to do with it. I’m not sure if the deal itself might be challengeable. I think the bigger question is the execution of these terms. I’m not familiar with any authority that exists today for OPM to buy companies to offer this number of people administrative leave. So I believe it is very much possibly setting the phase for employment difficulties since I feel OPM has actually vastly exceeded their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is an employment legal representative with the Alden Law Group here in Washington, D.C. Thank you a lot for joining us.BERCOVICI: Thank you a lot for having me here.

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