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

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal staff members have up until February 6 to decide 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 take leave and be paid until the end of September. Michelle Bercovici is a work lawyer who represents federal workers as a big part of her practice, so I asked her for her interpretation about what OPM’s deferred resignation program would actually mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I actually do not consider it a lot an offer. I think it’s a demand to resign with an unclear promise that, potentially, you could be kept in administrative leave status for somalibidders.com approximately eight months – however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have actually been utilizing the term buyout to describe what this is because there seems 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 absolutely not describe it as a buyout. I believe that’s an extremely deceptive term to utilize in this circumstance. When you believe of a buyout, there’s usually some sort of composed arrangement or adremcareers.com a concrete deal to offer an advantage in exchange for waiving specific rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If customers ask you for your recommendations, what are you informing them?BERCOVICI: First thing we inform them is exercise severe caution. There are no guarantees contained in this e-mail. The only thing I can tell 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 quiting control over a lot.MARTIN: Exists some category of worker who you believe this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is someone like that may this be an appealing offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement need to be the most mindful since leaving earlier than planned can have severe effects, possibly, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me simply play a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She informed reporters that this is a bargain for people 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 workers that they need to return in – to work. And if they don’t, then they have the alternative to resign, and this administration is very kindly using to pay them for eight months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It just – 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 remains in bad faith, that it’s created to get folks who work actually hard 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 enjoy their job. They like the objective of the company. They work hard. And today, they’re facing extremely difficult choices, specifically if they’re remote. I mean, it’s very 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. otherwise we’re going to fire you, they might feel that they have no option than to take this option.MARTIN: Do you expect legal obstacles just to the offer itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be honest, is so unprecedented that I think a lot of us are still trying to determine what to do with it. I’m not exactly sure if the offer itself may be challengeable. I think the larger question is the execution of these terms. I’m not familiar with any authority that exists today for referall.us OPM to buy companies to provide this number of people administrative leave. So I believe it is very much perhaps setting the stage for challenges because I feel OPM has actually significantly 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 joining us.BERCOVICI: Thank you so much for having me here.

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