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 voluntarily leave their jobs. 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 completion of September. Michelle Bercovici is an employment lawyer who represents federal employees as a big part of her practice, so I asked her for somalibidders.com her analysis about what OPM’s postponed resignation program would in fact mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I in fact do not consider it so much an offer. I believe it’s a demand to resign with an unclear guarantee that, adremcareers.com potentially, you might be kept in administrative leave status for up to eight months – but no guarantees.MARTIN: Some people have actually been using the term buyout to explain what this is because there seems to be the offer of administrative leave for as much as 8 months if you take this offer. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would absolutely not describe it as a buyout. I think that’s a really deceptive term to use in this circumstance. When you think about a buyout, there’s usually some sort of composed contract or a concrete offer to supply an advantage in exchange for waiving specific rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If customers ask you for your guidance, what are you telling them?BERCOVICI: First thing we tell them is workout severe caution. There are no assurances contained in this email. The only thing I can tell you for specific is that if you alter your mind, the company’s most likely not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are essentially providing up 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 mindful since leaving earlier than meant can have serious effects, possibly, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me just play a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She told reporters that this is a great offer for people who do not desire to go back to the workplace. Let me just play it.(SOUNDBITE OF RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a suggestion to federal employees that they need to return in – to work. And referall.us if they don’t, then they have the option to resign, and this administration is extremely generously providing to pay them for 8 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 is in bad faith, that it’s created to get folks who work actually tough to resign. I think it’s trying to pull the wool over a great deal of individuals’s eyes due to the fact that there are no guarantees. And these are people who love their task. They love the objective of the firm. They work hard. And today, they’re facing 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 somebody who lives 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 prepare for legal challenges simply to the offer itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be sincere, is so extraordinary that I think a great deal of us are still trying to find out what to do with it. I’m not exactly sure if the deal itself might 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 provide this number of people administrative leave. So I believe it is extremely much perhaps setting the stage 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 a lot for joining us.BERCOVICI: Thank you a lot for having me here.

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