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

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal employees have up until February 6 to decide whether to willingly 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 permitted to take leave and be paid until the end of September. Michelle Bercovici is a work legal representative 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 really mean.MICHELLE BERCOVICI: I in fact don’t consider it so much a deal. I think it’s a request to resign with an unclear pledge that, possibly, you might be kept in administrative leave status for approximately 8 months – however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some people have actually been utilizing the term buyout to explain what this is because there seems to be the offer of administrative leave for up to eight months if you take this deal. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would absolutely not describe it as a buyout. I believe that’s a really deceptive term to use in this scenario. When you consider a buyout, there’s typically some sort of written contract or a concrete offer to offer an advantage in exchange for waiving specific rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If customers ask you for your suggestions, what are you telling them?BERCOVICI: First thing we tell them is workout extreme caution. There are no assurances contained in this e-mail. The only thing I can inform you for particular is that if you alter your mind, the company’s probably not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are basically quiting control over a lot.MARTIN: Is there some category of staff member who you believe this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is somebody like that may this be an appealing offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement need to be the most cautious since leaving earlier than intended can have severe effects, possibly, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me simply play a clip from the White House press secretary, somalibidders.com Karoline Leavitt. She informed reporters that this is a bargain for people who do not want to return to the workplace. Let me just play it.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)KAROLINE LEAVITT: This is an idea to federal employees that they have to return in – to work. And if they do not, then they have the choice to resign, and this administration is really 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 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 actually tough to resign. I believe it’s attempting to pull the wool over a lot of people’s eyes due to the fact that there are no guarantees. And these are people who like their task. They enjoy the objective of the agency. They work hard. And today, they’re dealing with very difficult options, specifically if they’re remote. I mean, it’s very 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 option than to take this option.MARTIN: Do you prepare for legal challenges 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 attempting to find out what to do with it. I’m not exactly sure if the deal itself may be challengeable. I believe the bigger concern is the execution of these terms. I’m not familiar with any authority that exists today for OPM to purchase firms to offer this number of people administrative leave. So I think it is quite possibly the phase for obstacles since I feel OPM has actually greatly surpassed their authority.MARTIN: That is Michelle Bercovici. She is an employment legal representative 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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