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

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal employees have till February 6 to decide whether to willingly 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 up until the end of September. Michelle Bercovici is an employment legal representative who represents federal workers as a big part of her practice, so I asked her for her interpretation about what OPM’s postponed resignation program would really mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I actually do not consider it so much an offer. I believe it’s a demand to resign with an unclear promise that, possibly, you might be kept in administrative leave status for somalibidders.com up to 8 months – however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have been using the term buyout to explain what this is because there appears to be the deal of administrative leave for up to eight months if you take this deal. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would never describe it as a buyout. I believe that’s a very misleading term to use in this situation. When you consider a buyout, there’s usually some sort of written arrangement or a concrete offer to provide an advantage in exchange for waiving certain rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If customers ask you for your guidance, what are you informing them?BERCOVICI: First thing we inform them is exercise severe care. There are no assurances consisted of in this e-mail. The only thing I can tell you for particular is that if you change your mind, the company’s probably not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are basically offering up control over a lot.MARTIN: Is there some classification of worker who you believe this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is somebody like that may this be an attractive offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement require to be the most cautious since leaving earlier than intended can have major repercussions, possibly, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me simply play a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She told reporters that this is a bargain for individuals who don’t want to return to the workplace. 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 don’t, then they have the choice to resign, referall.us and this administration is really kindly offering to pay them for eight months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It simply – in a manner, it breaks my heart that federal employees 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 developed to get folks who work actually hard to resign. I believe it’s trying to pull the wool over a great deal of individuals’s eyes because there are no warranties. And these are people who enjoy their job. They enjoy the mission of the company. They strive. And right now, they’re facing really difficult choices, specifically if they’re remote. I mean, it’s extremely coercive.MARTIN: You say it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re somebody who lives in Oregon and has been 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 prepare for legal difficulties just to the offer itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be truthful, is so unmatched that I think a lot of us are still trying to determine what to do with it. I’m unsure if the offer itself may 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 purchase agencies to give this number of individuals administrative leave. So I think it is quite potentially setting the phase for challenges since I feel OPM has actually greatly surpassed 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 so much for signing up with us.BERCOVICI: Thank you a lot for having me here.

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