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

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal employees have until February 6 to decide whether to voluntarily leave their jobs. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, OPM, 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 until completion of September. Michelle Bercovici is a work legal representative who represents federal staff members as a large part of her practice, so I asked her for her interpretation about what OPM’s deferred resignation program would actually mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I really don’t consider it so much a deal. I think it’s a request to resign with an unclear pledge that, employment possibly, you could be kept in administrative leave status for up to eight months – but no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have been using the term buyout to describe what this is due to the fact that there seems to be the deal of administrative leave for up to eight months if you take this offer. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would definitely not explain it as a buyout. I think that’s an extremely deceptive term to use in this circumstance. When you think about a buyout, there’s generally some sort of written contract or a concrete offer to offer 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 telling them?BERCOVICI: employment First thing we inform them is exercise severe caution. There are no assurances contained in this e-mail. The only thing I can tell you for certain is that if you alter your mind, the firm’s most likely not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are essentially offering up control over a lot.MARTIN: employment Exists some category of worker who you think this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is somebody like that may this be an attractive offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement need to be the most mindful due to the fact that leaving earlier than meant can have severe consequences, potentially, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me simply 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 go back to the office. Let me just play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is an idea to federal employees that they have to return in – to work. And if they do not, then they have the alternative to resign, and this administration is extremely generously providing to pay them for 8 months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It just – in a manner, 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 actually difficult to resign. I think it’s attempting to pull the wool over a great deal of individuals’s eyes due to the fact that there are no guarantees. And these are individuals who like their task. They like the objective of the agency. They strive. And employment today, they’re facing extremely difficult options, particularly if they’re remote. I mean, it’s extremely coercive.MARTIN: You state it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re someone who resides 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 choice than to take this option.MARTIN: Do you prepare for legal challenges simply to the deal itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This deal, to be truthful, is so unprecedented that I think a lot of us are still attempting to find out what to do with it. I’m unsure if the offer itself might be challengeable. I believe the bigger question is the execution of these terms. I’m not knowledgeable about any authority that exists today for OPM to purchase firms to offer this number of individuals administrative leave. So I think it is really much possibly setting the stage for challenges because I feel OPM has significantly exceeded 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 employment signing up with us.BERCOVICI: Thank you so much for having me here.

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