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

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Federal workers have 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 till completion of September. Michelle Bercovici is a work lawyer who represents federal staff members 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 a lot an offer. I believe it’s a demand to resign with an unclear guarantee that, possibly, you might be kept in administrative leave status for as much as 8 months – however no guarantees.MARTIN: Some people have actually been utilizing the term buyout to explain what this is due to the fact that there appears to be the offer of administrative leave for up to eight months if you take this offer. So is it a buyout?BERCOVICI: I would never explain it as a buyout. I believe that’s a really deceptive term to utilize in this circumstance. When you think of a buyout, there’s normally some sort of written agreement or a concrete offer to offer a benefit in exchange for waiving certain rights. That is not the case here.MARTIN: If customers ask you for your recommendations, what are you telling them?BERCOVICI: First thing we inform them is workout severe care. There are no guarantees contained in this e-mail. The only thing I can tell you for particular is that if you change your mind, the company’s most likely not going to let you withdraw that resignation, and you are essentially giving up control over a lot.MARTIN: Is there some category of worker who you think this might benefit? Maybe they’re close to retirement. Is somebody like that might this be an appealing offer?BERCOVICI: Folks near retirement need to be the most careful since leaving earlier than planned can have serious consequences, possibly, on their benefits.MARTIN: Let me just play a clip from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She told reporters that this is a great offer for individuals who do not wish to return to the workplace. Let me just 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 do not, then they have the option to resign, employment and this administration is really generously using to pay them for eight months.MARTIN: You’re shaking your head no.BERCOVICI: employment It simply – in a manner, it breaks my heart that federal employees 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 truly difficult to resign. I believe it’s attempting to pull the wool over a great deal of individuals’s eyes due to the fact that there are no assurances. And employment these are individuals who enjoy their job. They love the objective of the company. They strive. And today, they’re facing extremely hard options, especially if they’re remote. I imply, it’s extremely coercive.MARTIN: You state it’s coercive. Because?BERCOVICI: Essentially, if you’re somebody who resides 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 obstacles simply to the offer itself? And employment if so, on what grounds?BERCOVICI: This offer, to be truthful, employment is so unprecedented that I think a lot of us are still trying to determine 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 that exists right now for OPM to buy agencies to give this variety of people administrative leave. So I believe it is quite possibly setting the phase for difficulties due to the fact that I feel OPM has greatly 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 signing up with us.BERCOVICI: Thank you a lot for having me here.

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