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 jobs. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, OPM, employment 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 permitted to take leave and be paid up until the end of September. Michelle Bercovici is an employment lawyer who represents federal workers as a big part of her practice, so I asked her for her analysis about what OPM’s delayed resignation program would in fact mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I in fact do not consider it so much an offer. I think it’s a demand to resign with a vague guarantee that, potentially, you could be kept in administrative leave status for approximately eight months – but no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have been utilizing the term buyout to explain what this is because there appears 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 think that’s a really misleading term to use in this situation. When you consider a buyout, there’s usually some sort of written agreement or a concrete deal to offer an advantage in exchange for waiving certain rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If clients ask you for your advice, what are you telling them?BERCOVICI: First thing we inform them is workout severe care. There are no warranties contained in this e-mail. The only thing I can tell you for certain is that if you alter your mind, the agency’s most likely not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are basically giving up control over a lot.MARTIN: Is there some category 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 require to be the most cautious since leaving earlier than planned can have major repercussions, potentially, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me simply play a clip from the White House press secretary, employment Karoline Leavitt. She informed press reporters that this is a good offer for people who do not wish to return to the workplace. Let me just play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a recommendation to 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 generously offering to pay them for 8 months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: employment It just – in a method, 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 remains in bad faith, that it’s created to get folks who work truly hard to resign. I think it’s trying to pull the wool over a lot of individuals’s eyes because there are no guarantees. And employment these are people who love their task. They enjoy the mission of the company. They work hard. And employment right now, they’re facing very difficult choices, particularly if they’re remote. I suggest, it’s extremely 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. 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 offer itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be honest, employment is so unprecedented that I believe a lot of us are still trying to figure out what to do with it. I’m not sure if the deal itself might be challengeable. I think the larger concern is the execution of these terms. I’m not knowledgeable about any authority that exists right now for OPM to purchase companies to give this number of individuals administrative leave. So I believe it is quite possibly setting the phase for obstacles due to the fact that I feel OPM has actually 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 so much for joining us.BERCOVICI: Thank you a lot for having me here.

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