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

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal workers have until February 6 to decide whether to willingly leave their tasks. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, OPM, notified employees on Tuesday that if they hand in their resignation by next Thursday – that’s less than a week from now – most will be allowed to depart and be paid till the end of September. Michelle Bercovici is an employment attorney who represents federal staff members as a big part of her practice, so I asked her for her interpretation about what OPM’s delayed resignation program would in fact mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I really don’t consider it a lot an offer. I think it’s a request to resign with a vague promise that, potentially, you might 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 due to the fact that there seems to be the deal of administrative leave for approximately eight months if you take this deal. 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 circumstance. When you think about a buyout, there’s usually some sort of written arrangement or a concrete deal to supply an advantage in exchange for waiving specific rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If customers ask you for your suggestions, what are you telling them?BERCOVICI: First thing we inform them is exercise severe care. There are no assurances consisted of in this email. The only thing I can inform you for particular is that if you change your mind, the firm’s probably not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are basically providing up control over a lot.MARTIN: Exists some classification of staff member 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 because leaving earlier than intended can have severe effects, job 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 wish to go back to the office. Let me simply play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a suggestion to federal workers that they need to return in – to work. And if they do not, then they have the choice to resign, and this administration is extremely generously offering to pay them for job eight months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It simply – in a method, it breaks my heart that federal staff members are being jerked around like this. It sends out a signal to me that this return-to-office order is in bad faith, that it’s created to get folks who work really hard to resign. I think it’s trying to pull the wool over a lot of people’s eyes because there are no warranties. And these are people who like their job. They enjoy the mission of the agency. They work hard. And today, they’re facing really hard choices, specifically if they’re remote. I suggest, it’s really coercive.MARTIN: You state it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re someone who lives in Oregon and has been informed to report to D.C. otherwise we’re going to fire you, they might feel that they have no choice than to take this option.MARTIN: Do you expect legal challenges just to the deal itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: job This deal, to be truthful, job is so unprecedented that I think a great deal of us are still trying to find out what to do with it. I’m unsure if the deal itself might be challengeable. I think the bigger concern is the execution of these terms. I’m not familiar with any authority that exists right now for OPM to buy companies to provide this variety of individuals administrative leave. So I believe it is quite potentially the stage for difficulties since I feel OPM has vastly surpassed their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is an employment lawyer with the Alden Law Group here in Washington, job D.C. Thank you a lot for job signing up with us.BERCOVICI: Thank you a lot for job having me here.

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