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

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal staff members have till February 6 to decide 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 allowed to depart and be paid up until completion of September. Michelle Bercovici is an employment attorney who represents federal workers as a large part of her practice, so I asked her for her interpretation about what OPM’s postponed resignation program would in fact mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I actually do not consider it so much an offer. I believe it’s a request to resign with a vague promise that, possibly, you could be kept in administrative leave status for up to 8 months – however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have actually been utilizing the term buyout to explain what this is since there appears to be the offer of administrative leave for approximately 8 months if you take this offer. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would definitely not describe it as a buyout. I believe that’s a really misleading term to utilize in this situation. When you consider a buyout, there’s normally some sort of written contract or a concrete offer to provide a benefit in exchange for waiving certain rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If clients ask you for your recommendations, what are you telling them?BERCOVICI: First thing we tell them is exercise severe care. There are no guarantees included in this email. 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 up control over a lot.MARTIN: Exists some category of staff member who you think this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is someone like that might this be an appealing offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement require to be the most cautious since leaving earlier than intended can have major repercussions, potentially, referall.us 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 a bargain for individuals 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 have to return in – to work. And if they don’t, then they have the choice to resign, and this administration is very kindly offering 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 workers 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 attempting to pull the wool over a great deal of individuals’s eyes because there are no warranties. And these are people who like their job. They like the objective of the agency. They work hard. And right now, they’re dealing with very hard options, particularly if they’re remote. I indicate, 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. or else we’re going to fire you, they might feel that they have no choice than to take this option.MARTIN: Do you expect legal difficulties just to the deal itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This deal, to be honest, is so unprecedented that I believe a lot of us are still attempting to determine what to do with it. I’m not sure if the deal itself may be challengeable. I believe the larger concern is the execution of these terms. I’m not mindful of any authority that exists today for OPM to buy companies to offer this number of individuals administrative leave. So I believe it is really much potentially setting the stage for difficulties due to the fact that I feel OPM has 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 so much for joining us.BERCOVICI: Thank you a lot for having me here.

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