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

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal workers have till February 6 to choose whether to voluntarily leave their jobs. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, OPM, notified 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 until completion of September. Michelle Bercovici is an employment attorney who represents federal staff members as a large part of her practice, so I asked her for her analysis about what OPM’s deferred resignation program would really mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I in fact don’t consider it so much a deal. I believe it’s a demand to resign with an unclear guarantee that, potentially, you might 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 because there seems to be the deal of administrative leave for approximately 8 months if you take this deal. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would definitely not describe it as a buyout. I think that’s an extremely deceptive term to utilize in this situation. When you think about a buyout, referall.us there’s usually some sort of written arrangement 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 informing them?BERCOVICI: First thing we inform them is exercise extreme caution. There are no assurances contained in this e-mail. The only thing I can tell you for particular is that if you alter your mind, the agency’s most likely not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are basically providing up control over a lot.MARTIN: Exists some classification of employee who you believe this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is someone like that may this be an appealing offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement need to be the most careful due to the fact that leaving earlier than intended can have severe effects, possibly, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me just play a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She informed reporters that this is a good deal for individuals who do not wish to go back to the office. Let me just play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is an idea 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 using to pay them for 8 months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It simply – in such a way, somalibidders.com it breaks my heart that federal employees 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 designed to get folks who work truly tough to resign. I think it’s attempting to pull the wool over a lot of individuals’s eyes due to the fact that there are no . And these are people who enjoy their job. They like the mission of the company. They strive. And today, they’re dealing with very tough options, particularly if they’re remote. I imply, it’s very coercive.MARTIN: You say it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re somebody who resides 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 deal itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be truthful, is so extraordinary that I think a great deal of us are still attempting to determine what to do with it. I’m uncertain if the deal itself may be challengeable. I think the larger concern is the execution of these terms. I’m not familiar with any authority that exists today for OPM to purchase agencies to offer this variety of people administrative leave. So I believe it is quite potentially setting the stage for obstacles due to the fact that I feel OPM has actually vastly 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 a lot for signing up with us.BERCOVICI: Thank you so much for having me here.

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