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

MICHEL MARTIN, referall.us HOST: Federal workers have till February 6 to choose whether to voluntarily leave their jobs. 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 enabled to take leave and be paid till the end of September. Michelle Bercovici is a work legal representative who represents federal staff members as a big part of her practice, so I asked her for her analysis about what OPM’s postponed resignation program would actually mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I really don’t consider it so much a deal. I think it’s a demand to resign with a vague pledge that, possibly, 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 because there seems to be the offer of administrative leave for approximately eight months if you take this deal. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would definitely not describe it as a buyout. I think that’s a really deceptive term to use in this circumstance. When you consider a buyout, there’s generally some sort of written arrangement or a concrete deal to offer a benefit in exchange for waiving particular rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If clients ask you for your recommendations, what are you informing them?BERCOVICI: First thing we tell them is caution. There are no guarantees included in this e-mail. The only thing I can inform you for specific is that if you change your mind, 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 employee who you think this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is someone like that may this be an attractive offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement require to be the most careful because leaving earlier than planned can have severe repercussions, possibly, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me just play a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She informed press reporters that this is a good deal for people who don’t desire to go back to the workplace. Let me simply play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a tip to federal workers that they need to return in – to work. And if they don’t, then they have the choice to resign, and this administration is really generously using to pay them for 8 months.MARTIN: adremcareers.com You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It simply – in such a way, it breaks my heart that federal workers 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 created to get folks who work really difficult to resign. I think it’s attempting to pull the wool over a great deal of individuals’s eyes because there are no warranties. And these are individuals who love their task. They enjoy the objective of the firm. They work hard. And today, they’re facing really hard choices, specifically if they’re remote. I suggest, it’s extremely coercive.MARTIN: You state it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re somebody who resides 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 obstacles just to the offer itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This deal, to be honest, is so unmatched that I believe a great deal 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 concern is the execution of these terms. I’m not familiar with any authority that exists today for OPM to order agencies to provide this variety of individuals administrative leave. So I believe it is quite possibly setting the stage for difficulties due to the fact that I feel OPM has actually vastly surpassed their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is an employment lawyer with the Alden Law Group here in Washington, D.C. Thank you a lot for signing up with us.BERCOVICI: Thank you a lot for having me here.

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