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 willingly leave their jobs. 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 permitted to depart and be paid till completion of September. Michelle Bercovici is a work legal representative who represents federal employees as a big part of her practice, so I asked her for her interpretation about what OPM’s deferred resignation program would really mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I really don’t consider it so much a deal. I think it’s a demand to resign with a vague promise that, potentially, you might be kept in administrative for approximately eight months – but no guarantees.MARTIN: referall.us Some people have been using the term buyout to describe what this is because there appears to be the deal of administrative leave for up to 8 months if you take this offer. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would never describe it as a buyout. I believe that’s a really misleading term to utilize in this scenario. When you think about a buyout, there’s normally some sort of written agreement or a concrete deal to provide a benefit 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 workout extreme care. There are no assurances included in this email. The only thing I can inform you for specific is that if you change your mind, the agency’s most likely not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are basically quiting control over a lot.MARTIN: Is there some classification of employee who you think this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is someone like that may this be an appealing offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement require to be the most cautious because leaving earlier than intended can have major consequences, possibly, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me just play a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She told press reporters that this is a great offer for individuals who don’t wish to go back to the office. Let me just play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a tip 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 really generously using to pay them for eight months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It simply – in a way, 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 truly difficult to resign. I believe it’s attempting to pull the wool over a great deal of people’s eyes since there are no guarantees. And these are individuals who love their job. They enjoy the mission of the company. They work hard. And right now, they’re dealing with extremely difficult options, especially if they’re remote. I mean, it’s really coercive.MARTIN: You state it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re someone who lives 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 anticipate legal obstacles just to the deal itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be honest, is so unprecedented that I believe a lot of us are still trying to determine what to do with it. I’m unsure if the deal itself may be challengeable. I think the bigger question is the execution of these terms. I’m not knowledgeable about any authority that exists today for OPM to purchase agencies to give this variety of people administrative leave. So I think it is really much potentially setting the phase for difficulties due to the fact that I feel OPM has significantly 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 somalibidders.com joining us.BERCOVICI: Thank you a lot for having me here.

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