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

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal workers have till February 6 to decide whether to voluntarily leave their jobs. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, OPM, notified 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. is a work attorney who represents federal employees as a big part of her practice, so I asked her for her analysis about what OPM’s delayed resignation program would really mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I actually do not consider it so much an offer. I believe it’s a request to resign with a vague pledge that, potentially, you could be kept in administrative leave status for approximately eight months – but no guarantees.MARTIN: Some people have been using the term buyout to describe what this is because there appears to be the deal of administrative leave for as much as 8 months if you take this offer. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would never describe it as a buyout. I believe that’s a really deceptive term to utilize in this situation. When you think of a buyout, there’s usually some sort of composed agreement or a concrete deal to supply an advantage in exchange for waiving certain rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If customers ask you for your advice, what are you informing them?BERCOVICI: First thing we inform them is workout extreme care. There are no assurances contained in this e-mail. The only thing I can inform you for certain is that if you change your mind, the agency’s probably not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are basically giving up control over a lot.MARTIN: Is there some classification of staff member who you believe this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is somebody like that may this be an attractive offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement require to be the most cautious 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 told reporters that this is a bargain for people who do not wish to return to the workplace. Let me simply play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is a recommendation to federal employees that they have to return in – to work. And if they don’t, then they have the alternative to resign, and this administration is really kindly providing to pay them for eight months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: It just – in such a way, it breaks my heart that federal employees 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 trying to pull the wool over a lot of individuals’s eyes since there are no assurances. And these are individuals who like their job. They enjoy the mission of the firm. They work hard. And right now, they’re facing very hard options, particularly if they’re remote. I suggest, it’s very coercive.MARTIN: You say it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re somebody who resides 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 anticipate legal difficulties simply to the offer itself? And if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This deal, to be sincere, is so extraordinary that I believe a lot of us are still attempting to figure out what to do with it. I’m not sure if the deal itself might be challengeable. I believe the bigger concern is the execution of these terms. I’m not knowledgeable about any authority that exists today for OPM to buy firms to provide this variety of people administrative leave. So I think it is really much potentially setting the phase for challenges since I feel OPM has greatly surpassed their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is an employment legal representative with the Alden Law Group here in Washington, referall.us D.C. Thank you a lot for joining us.BERCOVICI: Thank you so much for having me here.

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