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

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal staff members have until February 6 to choose whether to willingly leave their tasks. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, OPM, informed 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 large part of her practice, so I asked her for her analysis about what OPM’s deferred resignation program would in fact mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: employment I actually don’t consider it so much a deal. I believe it’s a request to resign with a vague guarantee that, possibly, you could be kept in administrative leave status for as much as eight months – but no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have actually been using the term buyout to describe what this is due to the fact that there seems to be the deal of administrative leave for up to eight months if you take this offer. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would absolutely not explain it as a buyout. I believe that’s a really deceptive term to use in this situation. When you consider a buyout, there’s normally some sort of written agreement or a concrete deal to provide a benefit in exchange for waiving particular rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If clients ask you for your suggestions, what are you telling them?BERCOVICI: First thing we tell them is exercise extreme caution. There are no guarantees contained in this email. The only thing I can inform you for certain is that if you change your mind, employment the company’s most likely not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are basically offering up control over a lot.MARTIN: Exists some classification of worker who you think this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is somebody like that may this be an appealing offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement require to be the most careful because leaving earlier than planned can have major effects, possibly, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me simply play a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She informed press reporters that this is a bargain for individuals who don’t wish to return to the office. Let me just play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is an idea to federal workers that they need to return in – to work. And if they do not, then they have the option to resign, and this administration is very kindly providing 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 staff members are being jerked around like this. It sends a signal to me that this return-to-office order remains in bad faith, that it’s designed 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 people who enjoy their task. They love the mission of the agency. They work hard. And today, they’re facing extremely hard options, particularly if they’re remote. I indicate, it’s extremely coercive.MARTIN: You say it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, employment if you’re someone who lives in Oregon and has been informed to report to D.C. or else 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 simply to the offer itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This deal, to be sincere, is so unprecedented that I believe a great deal of us are still attempting to find out what to do with it. I’m uncertain if the deal itself may be challengeable. I think the bigger concern is the execution of these terms. I’m not familiar with any authority that exists today for OPM to to provide this number of individuals administrative leave. So I believe it is quite perhaps setting the phase for obstacles because I feel OPM has significantly exceeded their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is a work legal representative 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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