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 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 enabled to take leave and be paid up until completion of September. Michelle Bercovici is a work lawyer who represents federal employees as a big part of her practice, so I asked her for her analysis about what OPM’s delayed resignation program would in fact mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I really do not consider it so much a deal. I believe it’s a request to resign with a vague pledge that, possibly, you could be kept in administrative leave status for as much as 8 months – however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have actually been utilizing the term buyout to explain what this is since there seems to be the deal of administrative leave for as much as eight months if you take this deal. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would definitely not explain it as a buyout. I believe that’s a really misleading term to utilize in this situation. When you think of a buyout, there’s generally some sort of composed contract or a concrete offer to supply a benefit in exchange for waiving certain rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: job If customers ask you for your advice, job what are you informing them?BERCOVICI: First thing we inform them is exercise severe caution. There are no guarantees contained in this email. The only thing I can tell you for certain is that if you alter your mind, job 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 category of worker who you believe this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is somebody like that may this be an appealing offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement need to be the most cautious due to the fact that leaving earlier than intended can have severe 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 an excellent offer 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 a suggestion to federal employees that they need to return in – to work. And if they don’t, then they have the choice to resign, and this administration is extremely kindly providing to pay them for 8 months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It simply – in a manner, 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 remains in bad faith, that it’s designed to get folks who work really difficult to resign. I think it’s trying to pull the wool over a great deal of people’s eyes since there are no assurances. And these are people who like their job. They love the mission of the company. They work hard. And right now, they’re dealing with really tough options, job especially if they’re remote. I mean, it’s extremely coercive.MARTIN: You state it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re someone who resides in Oregon and has been to report to D.C. or else we’re going to fire you, job they might feel that they have no choice than to take this option.MARTIN: Do you expect legal obstacles simply to the offer itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be sincere, job is so unprecedented that I believe a lot of us are still trying to figure out what to do with it. I’m not sure if the deal itself might be challengeable. I think the larger question is the execution of these terms. I’m not mindful of any authority that exists right now for OPM to buy firms to give this variety of people administrative leave. So I think it is quite possibly setting the phase for difficulties since I feel OPM has actually vastly exceeded their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is a work 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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