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

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal employees have until February 6 to decide whether to voluntarily 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 till 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 delayed resignation program would really mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I really don’t consider it so much a deal. I think it’s a demand to resign with a vague guarantee that, possibly, you could be kept in administrative leave status for approximately eight months – but no guarantees.MARTIN: Some individuals have actually been using the term buyout to explain what this is since there appears to be the offer of administrative leave for as much as 8 months if you take this deal. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would absolutely not explain it as a buyout. I believe that’s an extremely deceptive term to utilize in this scenario. When you think about a buyout, there’s usually some sort of composed arrangement or a concrete deal to provide a benefit in exchange for waiving certain rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If customers ask you for your guidance, what are you informing them?BERCOVICI: First thing we inform them is exercise severe care. There are no warranties included in this e-mail. The only thing I can inform you for specific is that if you change your mind, the company’s probably not going to let you withdraw that resignation, referall.us and you are basically quiting control over a lot.MARTIN: Exists some classification of staff member who you think this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is someone like that may this be an appealing offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement require to be the most cautious because leaving earlier than intended can have major consequences, potentially, 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 great offer for people who do not wish to return to the office. Let me simply 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 option to resign, and this administration is really kindly offering to pay them for 8 months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It just – in a manner, 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 created to get folks who work actually difficult to resign. I think it’s attempting to pull the wool over a great deal of people’s eyes since there are no warranties. And these are people who love their task. They love the objective of the firm. They strive. And today, they’re facing very difficult choices, specifically if they’re remote. I mean, it’s very coercive.MARTIN: You say it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re somebody 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 choice than to take this option.MARTIN: Do you prepare for simply to the deal itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This deal, to be honest, is so unprecedented that I think a lot of us are still attempting to figure out what to do with it. I’m unsure if the offer itself might be challengeable. I believe the bigger concern is the execution of these terms. I’m not conscious of any authority that exists right now for OPM to buy companies to provide this number of individuals administrative leave. So I think it is quite perhaps setting the phase for difficulties since I feel OPM has significantly 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 joining us.BERCOVICI: Thank you a lot for having me here.

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